Oxygen is a vigorous oxidiser and as pressures, temperatures, and use concentrations have increased, fire incidents have increased — both big and small. Since the early days of oxygen use, historic tragedies like NASA’s Apollo 1 oxygen fire in 1967 have driven innovation to promote understanding.
WHA International, Inc. is located just a few miles away from the NASA White Sands Test Facility. Many of its engineers, like CEO Dr. Barry Newton, began their careers at NASA during a time when the science behind oxygen safety was highly accelerated due to several well-known fires within the space industry.
“In the early days of oxygen safety, hazards were generally understood, but rarely explored in depth,” shares Dr. Newton. “Since then, the field has evolved from a position of reactive investigation to one of proactive testing and analysis. Today, we still investigate the cause of oxygen fires around the world, but now that work has also informed our services of oxygen testing, hazard analysis, and technical training… all efforts to prevent and mitigate incidents before they’re ever allowed to happen.”
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