When Should I Bump Test?

Despite this, bump testing is often overlooked. That’s why we’ve put together this quick guide to bump testing: what it is, why it’s important, and how often you should be doing it.

Gas Hazards in Industry

Gas hazards are a part of daily life in many industries: oil refineries, wastewater treatment plants, and petrochemical storage facilities, to name a few. People working in environments such as these rely on personal gas monitoring equipment to detect certain gases and warn them if concentrations start to exceed safe levels.

Hazardous gases present serious risks including explosion, poisoning, and asphyxiation. This means that for industries that deal with hazardous gases, ensuring the effectiveness of gas monitoring equipment is essential for the wellbeing of their personnel.

The Importance of Testing

There are two parts to making sure gas monitoring equipment is working as it should: calibration and bump testing.

• Calibration is a quantitative test, it involves comparing the instrument response to a known concentration of a target gas to make sure that a detector’s response to a target gas accurately reflects the actual concentration. It normally involves making an adjustment to the instrument. A calibration is done much less frequently, in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines or if there is a failure of a bump test.
• Bump testing is a qualitative test. Bump testing involves exposing a detector to a target gas at a concentration and exposure time sufficient to activate all alarm indicators, and simply checking that the alarms are triggered. This ensures that the gas can get to the sensors and that all the alarms are functional.

Several potential issues can only be detected by a bump test. So, performing this test is crucial because it rules out problems that would not be detected by a calibration check, for example, the device may be correctly calibrated, but the ‘unsafe’ concentration may have been incorrectly defined. Alternatively, an alarm speaker may be broken or blocked.

So, now for the golden question:

How Often Should You Bump Test Your Portable Gas Monitors?

Bump testing can often be overlooked. Bump testing requires minimal training and takes around 30 seconds to carry out in most cases. It is true that there is no legal requirement to bump test equipment, however, the BSIF, ISEA and Air Products all recommend doing so each day before use.^1,2

Check out our bump test tutorial video to see just how simple it is.

Gas for Bump Testing

A reliable supply of your target gas(es) is essential for bump testing and having these to hand when you need them can make bump testing even quicker and easier. Air Products’ range of specialty gases deliver traceable and stable mixtures in a wide range of portable canisters designed for convenient testing and calibration. Our non-refillable canisters are the ideal compromise between gas capacity and portability, and our highly precise gas mixes come with certificates of analysis as standard.

---

References and Further Reading

1. BSIF - Bump Testing. Available at: http://www.bsif.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Bump-Test-Every-Time-0318.pdf. (Accessed: 19th June 2020)
2. ISEA Statement on Validation of Operation For Direct Reading Portable Gas Monitors. https://safetyequipment.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/calibration_statement-2010-Mar4.pdf (Accessed: 19th June 2020)