Gas detectors are a crucial piece of equipment used to safeguard your workers against dangerous gases, fumes and vapors. They can be worn by your employees in the workplace or mounted on the wall to monitor an area. The main purpose is to warn your staff of combustibles, toxics and oxygen depletion levels so that they can take action before they experience harm.

Portable and fixed gas detectors use various technologies to detect a variety of gases. They can measure a single point in an area of the room to give you a first idea of the composition of the air or specific gas concentrations, typically measured as % by volume for flammable gases and ppm for low level concentration gases (and toxics).

Gas Detectors 101: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Choosing the Right Device

Fixed point gas detection solutions are designed to be permanently installed where it is likely that combustible or toxic leaks could occur – this might include living quarters, remote areas that may have hydrocarbon vapor present and offices where high value computer records are stored. These systems communicate with other safety and control systems to determine what action should be taken if an alarm is activated.

Some devices use electrochemical methods to detect toxic gases, including volatile organic compounds or VOCs. These types of detectors will often use a sensitive film that reacts with certain chemical substances to create a current proportional to the amount of chemicals in the air. Other systems rely on photoionization detection, or PID for short, to detect combustibles in the air. These work by using UV light to ionize the VOCs in the air, creating an electrical current that is proportional to the amount of ions created.