Safety

Like diesel and gasoline, hydrogen is flammable and must be handled carefully. Yet in many ways, hydrogen is as safe or safer than other fuels. Because hydrogen is 14 times lighter than air, a leak in a hydrogen tank poses less of a threat than a comparable leak in a gasoline tank; the hydrogen would dissipate rapidly into the air. What’s more, hydrogen is not toxic and doesn’t pollute.

	Gasoline/Diesel	Hydrogen
Irritating to the skin and eyes	Yes	No
Toxic to breathe	Yes	No
Poisonous to ingest	Yes	No
Causes particulate pollution	Yes	No
Produces nitrogen oxide (NOx), a precursor of smog	Yes	No
Causes global warming	Yes	No
Flammable	Yes	Yes
Lingers after a spill, posing a fire danger	Yes	No

For over 50 years, hydrogen has been produced, transported, and used safely throughout the country. U.S. industry currently uses over 100 billion cubic feet of hydrogen a year in everything from welding supplies to hydrogenated vegetable oils in peanut butter. If all this hydrogen were used as an energy carrier, it would be enough to fuel as many as 30 million cars.

Safety Precautions

We have all learned to handle highly flammable substances safely; we do it every time we gas up our cars. Many of the safety precautions we take with hydrogen will look pretty familiar:

No smoking at fueling stations
Authorized personnel only in fueling and maintenance areas
Well-ventilated areas for maintenance work
Easily-located emergency shut-off buttons
State-of-the-art, carbon-fiber tanks that are far stronger than ordinary gas tanks
Hydrogen tanks on the buses are placed on the roof so that in the event of a leak, the lighter-than-air gas will dissipate more easily
On-going training

All AC Transit drivers and mechanics are trained to handle their equipment and materials safely. Whenever we introduce new equipment and materials to our employees, we provide the training to keep our people and our community safe.