SODIUM CHLORATE

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3468, 19 May 1934, Page 7

SODIUM CHLORATE

RISK OF COMBUSTION.

ADVICE BY DEPARTMENT,

Several serious accidents, some of which have proved fatal, have been caused by the clothing of farm workers bursting into flames when dry and impregnated with sodium chlorate from the solution used in spraying ragwort. Great care should be exercised in the ; handling of this material, for when carelessly handled it is capable of inflicting severe bums and endangering both life and property. The method most generally adopted in New Zealand for exterminating weeds by means of sodium chlorate is that of spraying the chlorate dissolved in water on the plants. In doing this the solution is apt to become spilt or sprayed on to the workers’ clothing, impregnating the cloth with chlorate. The water rapidly evaporates, leaving the chlorate distributed with the fibres of the cloth and in the closest contact. The dry clothing is now liable to burst into flames with gtreat rapidity so soon as a spark, a blow, or friction is applied to any one spot. Heating the clothing by coming too near a fire and without actual contact with a spark or flame, or heating by friction o(r. by concussion from a sudden blow, may also cause a garment to take fire or even to explode. In fact, the person with clothing contaminated by chlorate resembles a human match of which the chlorated spot is the match-head. The danger that saturated clothing when dry may become an explosive mixture also indreases the risk of fire, while contributing an added menace from the shock of explosion or detonation. Workers using chlorate are advised by the Department of Agriculture to wear as little clothing as possible, and this should be water-proofed—-oilskins, rubber leggings and gumboots—all of which can be well and easily rinsed in running water. If ordinary clothing becomes saturated with sodium chlorate solution it is not sufficient merely to steep the garments in water or to wash them in the ordinary way,“as experience has shown that this may merely distribute the chlorate more widqjy and increase the danger of fire. The -clothing must be thoroughly rinsed •in a succession of waters, best accomplished by immersion in running water in all cases, but especially necessary with thick woollen clothing*.