Follow these steps if you want to reduce the likelihood of chemical spills.
Do you work in a business that manages hazardous chemicals regularly? For facilities that work with hazardous substances, it’s important that these substances be handled carefully. This, in part, means knowing how to prevent chemical spills from arising in your facility. So, what steps should one take to minimize the chances of this occurring? Follow these steps if you want to reduce the likelihood of chemical spills.
Don’t Store Chemicals Where They Could Be Knocked Over
People walk throughout your building every day. Some places get plenty of foot traffic, while others get none at all. It’s important to keep hazardous chemicals away from any places where people could knock them over. Putting them on the ground, on lab benches, or in stairwells, among other places is not a good idea, as people could unknowingly bump into them and cause a spill.
Check Chemical Storage Containers for Damage
The containers that are used to store hazardous substances need to be checked periodically to be sure that they’re not damaged. If those containers are damaged in some way, it’s possible for chemicals to leak out of them and become a health threat to everybody in the vicinity.
Certain chemicals can absorb moisture, while others react with the air. These types of reactions can cause chemical storage containers to expand, or even break entirely.
Add Shelf Lips to Storage Shelves
For chemicals that you keep on shelves, you should attach shelf lips to those shelves so that the chemicals you’re storing don’t roll off of the shelves and break out of their containers. Shelf lips serve as barriers that stop chemical containers from falling onto the ground and causing chemical spills. If you’re wondering what height your shelf lips should be, two inches should be sufficient. You can make shelf lips yourself by building them from wood molding. Alternatively, there are plastic shelf lips you can purchase, which come with chemical resistance.
Categorize Your Chemicals
Different chemicals need to be handled in different ways. For this reason, if you want to prevent spills, it also helps to separate chemicals from one another. This way, you’ll know that all chemicals in an area need to be managed in the same way.
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