Spill Kits

How to Control Chemical Spills

Despite safety measures and thorough training sessions, accidents can happen when working with chemical substances and these are quite common in workplaces. It is important to take the necessary measures to reduce the damage from a chemical spill and the best way to do that is to have a spill response plan. Larger spills are more difficult to contain and they require time, energy, and resources. Therefore, it is recommended to have chemical spill control equipment when this happens. 

What Are the Consequences of Chemical Spills?

It is common knowledge that chemical spills are responsible for:

• Causing severe illness and even fatalities: chemicals can cause severe burns when you touch them unprotected, they can damage eyesight and affect the respiratory tract. Contact with frequent chemical spills can cause cancer after years following the initial exposure. 
• Damaging buildings: some chemicals are flammable and can cause fires affecting the structural damage of a building. Sometimes buildings cannot be used for a long time due to the spill of toxic chemicals. 
• Affecting the environment: running into waterways, affecting residential land and affecting surrounding wildlife or crops.  

What can I do to prevent them? 

As previously mentioned you can prevent the larger spread of chemicals and potential damage with the help of suitable PPE equipment such as spill kits. Spill kits allow you to act quickly in the event of a chemical spill. Once used, the contaminated kit needs to be disposed of. 

Initial spill kits are kept in heavy-duty bins designed to store the cleanup material. Once the kit has been used and the bin or receptacle cleaned, refill versions can be purchased. 

Most kits generally include the following; 

• Absorbent pads, blankets or booms. 
• Spill control mats.
• Floor sweeps. 
• Safety gloves, goggles and/or respiratory protection. 
• A disposal bag. 
• A bin or similar

How to Control Chemical Spills

Despite safety measures and thorough training sessions, accidents can happen when working with chemical substances and these are quite common in workplaces. It is important to take the necessary measures to reduce the damage from a chemical spill and the best way to do that is to have a spill response plan. Larger spills are more difficult to contain and they require time, energy, and resources. Therefore, it is recommended to have chemical spill control equipment when this happens. 

What Are the Consequences of Chemical Spills?

It is common knowledge that chemical spills are responsible for:

• Causing severe illness and even fatalities: chemicals can cause severe burns when you touch them unprotected, they can damage eyesight and affect the respiratory tract. Contact with frequent chemical spills can cause cancer after years following the initial exposure. 
• Damaging buildings: some chemicals are flammable and can cause fires affecting the structural damage of a building. Sometimes buildings cannot be used for a long time due to the spill of toxic chemicals. 
• Affecting the environment: running into waterways, affecting residential land and affecting surrounding wildlife or crops.  

What can I do to prevent them? 

As previously mentioned you can prevent the larger spread of chemicals and potential damage with the help of suitable PPE equipment such as spill kits. Spill kits allow you to act quickly in the event of a chemical spill. Once used, the contaminated kit needs to be disposed of. 

Initial spill kits are kept in heavy-duty bins designed to store the cleanup material. Once the kit has been used and the bin or receptacle cleaned, refill versions can be purchased. 

Most kits generally include the following; 

• Absorbent pads, blankets or booms. 
• Spill control mats.
• Floor sweeps. 
• Safety gloves, goggles and/or respiratory protection. 
• A disposal bag. 
• A bin or similar

They come in different sizes depending on the nature of the spill, so can be used across the board where there is potential for a chemical spill. At Southland Supply Group, we especially stock Safetek spill control kits as they are of the highest quality and are extremely effective.