Q: What is the PFCMA?
A: The Portable Fuel Container Manufacturers Association (PFCMA) is a nonprofit trade association representing the makers of consumer portable fuel containers and spouts. The PFCMA works with governmental and private entities on matters concerning safety, quality and environmental standards, as well as education about portable fuel containers and safe use of the flammable and combustible fuels they carry.
Q: Are there standards relating to the quality of portable fuel containers?
A: Portable fuel containers have continuously evolved over the last half century to provide safe transportation and storage of the fuels consumers need to power the internal combustion engines they use for recreation, property maintenance and transportation. These fuels, especially gasoline, are flammable and volatile and every effort is made in the design of gas cans to deliver ease of use and convenience while minimizing the hazards of using these fuels.
The key standards are developed by the recognized leader in this field, ASTM International. A specific Subcommittee within the ASTM Consumer Products branch has been responsible for the development and maintenance of portable fuel container related product standards since the mid-seventies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulate portable consumer fuel containers to minimize the environmental impact of the transport, storage and use of fuel by consumers.
Q: Why do consumer portable fuel containers have child-resistant closures?
A: Federal Law requires all consumer portable fuel containers manufactured today are required to have child-resistant closures. The Federal Law, called the Children's Burn Prevention Act, can be found here.
Q: Are the ASTM safety standards voluntary?
A: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) permits an industry to create standards which “eliminate or adequately reduce the risk of injury” and then monitors the industry’s efforts to make and apply such standards. PFCMA members have adopted a series of standards to do just that. These standards are referenced in national and local fire safety codes and the CPSC ensures that the standards are broadly effective.
Q: If regulations on gas cans are continuously evolving, can I still find and purchase older versions that don’t meet current requirements?
A: PFCMA members only sell portable fuel containers manufactured that meet the prevailing industry guidelines and requirements. Responsible retailers ensure that they offer only qualified products but others such as some online sellers have been seen to carry older non-compliant containers or their attachments; the PFCMA recommends against purchase of these products.
Q: Are there any gas cans that are exempt from the ASTM standards?
A: Metal containers (‘safety cans’), mainly used in industrial and construction applications, are required to meet different regulations and standards than portable fuel containers intended for consumer use.
Q: Are safety cans the same thing as portable consumer fuel containers?
A: No. Safety cans are designed for use in industrial and construction applications and are not intended for consumer use. They do not meet ASTM standards applicable to portable consumer fuel containers.
They are intended to be used by professionals and require that users follow careful instructions, including grounding the cans using a grounding and bonding wire during filling and dispensing. They are not required to have the child resistant closures that consumer portable fuel containers do or to conform to the environmental standards applicable to gas cans for consumer use.
Q: Are there portable consumer fuel containers manufactured by companies that are not a part of the PFCMA and/or do not meet current safety standards?
A: Some manufacturers, who are not PFCMA members, make portable fuel containers that do not meet the standards required for consumer portable fuel containers. They are often marked that they are for special applications, such as auto racing or are called Utility Jugs and carry a label stating that they are not for use with fuel (although they are the conventional red/yellow and blue in color!). Such containers do not conform to the ASTM standards, national fire safety codes, the mandatory child safety law, or environmental standards for consumer portable fuel containers. They are not as safe as cans manufactured by PFCMA members.
In addition, replacement spout kits that are intended to be used on consumer portable fuel containers are being sold by companies to avoid the child safety and environmental protections designed into the containers manufactured by members of the PFCMA to meet industry guidelines and requirements. These products are not safe.
Q: Why have flame mitigation devices recently been introduced?
A: Flame mitigation devices are designed to prevent the rare occurrence of an ignition source outside a container traveling into the container and igniting flammable vapor inside the container. Until about a decade ago, it was thought that the fuel to air ratio inside the container could not be in the flammable range. However, in investigating an unusual incident, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) found that vapor inside the container could be ignited when the container was being misused to start or accelerate a fire.
Q: Are portable fuel containers intended to be used to start or accelerate a fire?
A: No! Portable fuel containers are intended for the transport of fuel from the pumps, its storage at the consumer’s home and its use to fuel the engines and other devices that are powered by that fuel. That is their intended use.
All portable fuel containers carry a warning that the fuel vapors can be ignited by a spark or flame source many feet away and to keep them away from sources of ignition.
Using gasoline to start or accelerate a fire is a dangerous misuse of the can, which can result in serious injury. All fire safety advocates caution against this misuse of portable fuel containers and the PFCMA conducts safety campaigns around this message.
Q: What hazard is not prevented by flame mitigation devices?
A: Flame mitigation devices address container explosions and flame jetting caused by flame propagation to the inside of a portable fuel container. These were shown in laboratory testing to only occur under very narrow conditions – a low quantity of relatively old fuel and a container held at a high pouring angle. They do not occur very often. More often accidents happen while starting or accelerating a fire with gasoline and are caused by the ignition of vapor outside the container. These accidents are not prevented by a flame mitigation device. Fire safety education efforts must continue to raise consumer awareness of the hazard posed by gasoline vapor.
Q: Did flame mitigation devices already exist before PFCMA members began installing them on their cans?
A: Metal flame arrestors have been used in different applications, such as storage tanks and piping, to prevent an outside ignition source from entering the system containing the flammable or combustible liquid and causing an explosion. These applications are very different from portable consumer fuel containers and could be dangerous to users of portable fuel containers.
Industrial safety cans, which are not intended for consumer use, may include flame arrestors, but the flame arrestor design used in industrial safety cans have been proven ineffective in the type of situation discovered by ATF. The PFCMA believes these metal baskets are not appropriate in portable consumer fuel containers.
Q: How were flame mitigation devices for portable fuel containers developed?
A: The ASTM Subcommittee responsible for portable fuel containers engaged the Fire Science Laboratory of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to carry out independent research sponsored by the PFCMA. This research program characterized the specific hazard for portable fuel containers and established a rigorous and repeatable test protocol for evaluating flame mitigation effectiveness. This helped manufacturers to develop new technology that could prevent the transmission of a flame into the container while allowing a portable consumer fuel container to safely and effectively function for the user and still meet the other standards applicable to portable fuel containers for consumer.
Q: Has the media reported on flame mitigation devices?
A: Media coverage concerning fires which may involve gas cans has been confusing, misleading and often simply untrue. There have even been situations when the State Fire Marshalls office intervened to stop the misinformation.
The independent research study on flame mitigation devices for portable fuel containers concluded that existing designs were ineffective for a consumer portable fuel container. The new designs on PFMCA members’ cans meet the standard developed for the new technology flame mitigation devices.
Q: Why did the CPSC put out a statement about flame arrestors?
A: The CPSC has been involved in ASTM research study on flame mitigation devices. As part of this effort, the CPSC issued a statement expressing a desire for gas can manufacturers to incorporate flame arrestor technology into portable consumer fuel containers. The industry did what the CPSC requested, resulting in the new flame mitigation devices.
"The flame mitigation device is another layer of safety to gas can use. But there is no substitute for common sense when it comes to handling flammable and combustible fuels. They should NEVER be used to start or accelerate a fire."
Tom Cray
CEO NoSpill