Our Mission
Helping clients understand, evaluate, and mitigate hazards and combustion risks associated with oxygen, hydrogen, and other hazardous fluids.
In 1987, our company founders brought their specialized oxygen expertise from NASA to the commercial sector. Today, hundreds of companies worldwide rely upon our services, including our cutting-edge Oxygen Fire Risk Analysis (OFRA) and Hydrogen Combustion Risk Analysis (HCRA) methods for systems and components.
Our Background
WHA was founded in 1987 with a special emphasis in failure analysis and forensic engineering. From the early years, the company’s focus was to provide just resolution of forensic engineering disputes, using the scientific method for testing and evaluation.
Before long, numerous industries began looking to WHA not just for answers about past incidents, but for critical information on how to stay safe around oxygen and other hazardous fluids. WHA’s capabilities expanded organically beyond failure analysis to include our current suite of comprehensive consulting, training, and testing services, all focused on oxygen safety.
As the hydrogen economy continued to grow in the 21st century, WHA began to participate in notable projects and accident investigations around the world, adding hydrogen as an additional core area of expertise.
Today, WHA serves a wide variety of companies all over the world, including over 60 of the Fortune 500.
Oxygen Expertise
Oxygen safety came into the spotlight in 1967 following the tragic death of NASA’s Apollo 1 crew members. Our founders built their careers with NASA and later brought their experience to the commercial sector through WHA International.
From the beginning, our engineers have been uniquely equipped to address the specific safety concerns of oxygen, and WHA remains a respected authority in oxygen safety today. Our engineers are intimately familiar with international standards governing the use of oxygen, because they have helped write many of the standards,and routinely contribute to organizations such as ASTM, CGA, EIGA, NFPA, NASA, SAE, and ISO.
Hundreds of companies worldwide rely upon our cutting-edge Oxygen Fire Risk Analysis (OFRA) method. Our approach is consistent with industry standards for performing oxygen hazards analysis on systems and components per ASTM (G 88, G-63, G-94, and others), CGA (G-4.4), EIGA (IGC 13/12, 200/17), ISO (ISO 15001) and NASA (TM-2007-213740).
Hydrogen Expertise
WHA International, Inc. has been a leader in hydrogen safety since 1988. Many of our engineers come directly from NASA or the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). At NASA, hydrogen fuels and fuel cells were pioneered through the Space Program, while renewable energy technologies and infrastructure for hydrogen production, transportation, and use are researched at NREL.
Our hydrogen consultants maintain active leadership roles in standards committees for NFPA 2 and ISO TC 197. They are also active participants in the Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS) and members of the Hydrogen Safety Panel. We're here to help the hydrogen economy grow safely and securely.
Based on our experience and knowledge of established methodologies, we’ve developed a Hydrogen Combustion Risk Analysis (HCRA) method customized to the unique hazards of hydrogen today.
Industries Served
Our experience spans a variety of industries around the world in over 48 countries.
- Industrial Gas Distribution
- Oil and Gas Refining and Mining
- Petrochemical Production
- Aircraft (Military and Commercial)
- Space Exploration (NASA and
- Commercial Space Flight)
- Healthcare and Breathing Gases
- Air Separation and Gas Production
- Welding/cutting Industrial Equipment and Machinery
- Safety Engineering
- Legal and Insurance
