scope:

Introduction

This guide provides technical references, insights, and recommendations for professionals who design, engineer, install, operate, and maintain equipment necessary to ventilate and condition hazardous spaces while prioritizing the preservation of occupant health and safety and protecting the surrounding facilities.

The book recommends safe practices and equipment selection parameters associated with the design, installation, and operation of heating, ventilation, pressurization, dilution, filtration, and air-conditioning systems and related hardware serving hazardous spaces, which are spaces considered to contain known sources of airborne contaminants and toxic, flammable, or combustible substances. The emphasis in this guide is on spaces containing toxic chemicals, asphyxiants, flammable gases, and combustible dusts. The guidance in this book does not touch on radioactive or pathogenic substances.

This chapter includes definitions of the terms used throughout this book as well as a list of additional resources for designing, installing, operating, and maintaining HVAC systems in hazardous spaces.