Hydrogen requires careful handling. It is colorless, odorless and highly flammable across a broad range of concentrations. As the lightest gas, it rises quickly and can accumulate in hard-to-detect areas. Without proper precautions, even a small leak can lead to a fire or explosion, with serious consequences for both facility personnel and the public. Because hydrogen is involved in complex processes — power generation, compression, storage, dispensing, transportation and use — a holistic approach is vital to ensure safety. This includes comprehensive fuel-source controls, well-defined evacuation procedures and effective emergency response plans. This one-page reference provides some foundational steps for setting up a holistic hydrogen-safety strategy.
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Unique risks and challenges
Effective fire protection begins with a unified design philosophy that integrates safety from initial concept through system implementation and maintenance. Key steps to ensuring hydrogen safety include early conceptual planning, detailed engineering, consequence modeling and comprehensive fire-risk assessments tailored specifically for hydrogen’s unique properties. Facilities require specialized fire- and gas-detection and alarm systems, integration with process controls and thorough functional testing to ensure reliability. Emergency response plans and consequence modeling are also crucial for preparing for potential incidents. Compliance with standards, or the adoption of a risk-informed, performance-based approach, further enhances safety while supporting operational efficiency.
Industrial fire-protection services cover the entire lifecycle of hydrogen utilities, from initial design through ongoing operation and maintenance. By adopting comprehensive measures, facilities can enhance safety and reduce risks related to hydrogen production, storage, transportation and use in industrial environments.
Improve safety immediately
The following are some best practices for risk-based safety planning and personnel training to help tackle hydrogen risks.
- Conduct a process hazard analysis, such as a HAZOP study, and develop a safety management plan (SMP) to identify, evaluate and mitigate hydrogen-related risks, as recommended by the NFPA 2 and NFPA 850 standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA; www.nfpa.org; Quincy, Mass.)
- Train personnel, contractors and emergency responders on hydrogen hazards and emergency procedures, including invisible flames, the dangers of hydrogen in poorly ventilated enclosures and the use of specialty detection and alarm equipment that may be unfamiliar
- Safety should also be a paramount concern throughout the design of processes and control systems. Below are some suggestions for ensuring safety in the design of systems and operational controls.
- Design hydrogen systems using compatible materials to prevent issues like embrittlement under pressure, following requirements from NFPA 2, as well as the ASME B31.12 standard from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; New York, N.Y.; www.asme.org)
- Install hydrogen-specific leak- and flame-detection systems and ensure proper ventilation and fuel supply control, in accordance with NFPA 2 and the NFPA’s Fire Protection Handbook [1]. Fire protection for exposures may be appropriate, depending on the proximity of critical equipment and important structures, as well as the owner-operator’s risk tolerance
- Implement clear labeling, access control and rapid isolation protocols for hydrogen storage and piping systems [2]
Evolving expertise
As hydrogen becomes more prominent in decarbonizing the industrial sector, fire protection practices must evolve to address its specific risks. Seeking out consultants or third-party companies with hydrogen-specific expertise can be extremely beneficial in helping stakeholders develop hydrogen projects safely and securely.
An ideal partner should bring experience in hydrogen project development, design, permitting and safe operation. They should also be committed to guiding stakeholders through the complex hydrogen landscape by not only leveraging technical expertise on industry standards like NFPA 2, but also via their understanding of and relationships with authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), regulators and standards-development organizations (SDOs) globally.
While hydrogen presents unique challenges, the brief guidelines presented here can help develop a safety approach that emphasizes comprehensive consideration of risks in managing and mitigating hydrogen fire hazards, aligned with operational needs to prevent costly disruptions. ■
Edited by Mary Page Bailey
References
1. NFPA, “Fire Protection Handbook,” 21 st Edition, 2023.
2. Heuchert, M. and Patel, R., Safeguarding the Hydrogen Economy: A Focus on Leak Detection and Mitigation, Chem. Eng., January 2025, pp. 28–33.
Author
Hunter Young is a senior engineer and practice leader for energy and utilities at engineering consultancy firm Jensen Hughes (8830 Stanford Boulevard, Suite 300, Columbia, MD 21045; Phone: 410-737-8677; Website: www.jensenhughes.com), where he uses his risk-informed engineering expertise to support safe and efficient operations for strategic energy-related accounts. As an experienced structural engineer, Young has led numerous hazard evaluation projects, involving regulatory and code review, experienced-based and analytical risk assessments and blast and impact assessments. He is also actively involved in the development efforts for multiple Jensen Hughes software packages, including DataAdvisr™ and ChatAdvisr™ for AI-powered agentic workflows.