Building a better breathing apparatus.

When Nick Chornyj was resting in a Fort McMurray hospital six years ago, recovering from being gassed at a northern Alberta construction site, a chilling thought crept into his head.

Many contractors like him are exposed on a daily basis to all kinds of industrial pollutants that can be deadly or have serious health effects later in life.

The 55-year-old Sault Ste. Marie industrial electrician and founder of FailSafe Air Vest Corporation received a blast of poisonous hydrogen sulphide while working at a refinery in April 2000.

"We were building a new addition beside an operating gas plant. The flare stack went out and the smoke just billowed right into the building that the group of us were working in," says Chornyj. He was sent to hospital along with 30 others to spend the afternoon under observation.

"There was nothing for basic escape for the 3,000 men on site if something blew up. They're stuck there without a (breathing) apparatus."

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) or "sour gas" is commonly found in Alberta gas deposits. Flaring is the petroleum industry's routine practice of burning it off. But U.S. government health statistics say concentrations of H2S greater than 500 parts per million can cause loss of consciousness and can be lethal.

From that incident an idea was hatched. After Chornyj found nothing on the market outside of the bulky, single cylinder, self-contained breathing apparatus, he decided to design a better one. Within six months he had developed his first prototype.

"It's been five solid years I've been sitting day and night thinking about the project, a little each day."

Now Chornyj plans to bull his way into the health and safety market with a lightweight air pack that he feels is innovative enough to go head-to-head with the likes of Scott Air-Pak[R].

Armed with about $500,000 raised from privately issued shares, Chornyj wants to setup a light manufacturing plant in the Sault. He's settled into a former elementary school where by October he plans to employ 50 people. From there, his company would ship product factory-direct to customers across Canada.

He's come up with a patent-pending system that uses multiple carbon composite cylinders of pressurized air that are attached inside a compartmentalized and fire retardant body vest.

The basic technology behind most air packs hasn't changed since Luxfer Cylinders introduced the single cylinder apparatus in 1898, says Chornyj. "Three centuries of antiquated technology."

His system has the same valves and regulators as mainstream packs, but he devised an interconnection between all the cylinders with one shut-off valve, something most manufacturers haven't tried.

His four models can hold between three and five cylinders and between 34 and 53 minutes of air. Priced in the $4,000 range, they weigh between 17 and 23 pounds when fully loaded.

He says his design has better weight displacement of the apparatus making it easier to do a piggyback rescue than with the bulky cylinder of a conventional pack.

The smaller cylinders also diminish the potential explosive force of one large cylinder.

The company today consists of only Chornyj and office manager Ray Corcoran. But he's recruited a slew of associates, including contract engineers and suppliers all over North America, working on components.

Georgia-based International Safety Instruments supplies his valves, regulators, pneumatics, gages and base pieces while Luxfer Cylinders supply the pressure vessels.

"We've got an incredible group of professionals involved in our circle now. We've got the best law firm in the U.S. for corporate law (Hale Lane in Reno, Nevada)."

Fail Safe's headquarters is officially listed as Reno, but Chornyj wants to keep the research and development campus and Canadian distribution centre local.

He says judging from the "incredible response" the product has received from his Alberta industry contacts, he believes he can capture more than 50 per cent of that industry's North American market share.

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Both his Canadian and U.S. technology patents are under assessment and he could receive good news this summer. More importantly, the approval of his NIOSH application (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), the U.S. agency that certifies respiratory equipment, will give him permission to sell anywhere in North America.

Chornyj says once he submits his full application in mid-June, after some third party testing of his equipment, he could conceivably receive industrial certification within two months. Further steps are planned to receive NIOSH's fire fighting certification and "elite" CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear) certification.

With a great multitude of potential clients out there, Chornyj boldly predicts he can manufacture 2,300 units in his inaugural production year with a projected $9.4 million in sales. The Alberta oil and gas market would consume about 80 per cent of his Canadian sales.

The U.S. petroleum sector would likely be 20 times larger, he says, with further opportunities in the fire fighting and mining industries.

As a self-described inventor, Chornyj says he has ideas for other products, but that is closely guarded information for now.

"We're not done yet, we're just getting started."

www.failsafecampus.com

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business