A Comprehensive Approach to Hydraulic Fluid Fire Safety

The benefit provided by the use of ‘fire resistant’ hydraulic fluids is most completely assessed by the use of risk assessment. To perform a risk assessment is an involved process demanding significant input on fluid fire properties. The most convenient source of such information is small-scale laboratory fire tests. This paper describes a programme of such tests which can be used as input to such a process and assist in fluid selection by allowing ranking fluid performance in different situations.