Even if you’re prepared with an active plan for the management and movement of liquids throughout your worksites, spills do still occur. Workplace spills can lead to environmental pollution, as well as having huge health and legal impacts for your business. It’s therefore essential that not only do you have suitable emergency spill kits in place across your site, but that you also actively inspect and maintain the kits to the required standard needed to respond to a spill emergency well.

Workplace emergency spill kits: the basics

Firstly, it’s essential that the emergency spill kits in place are appropriate for the liquids your site handles. Most emergency spill kits contain commonly needed items like absorbent mats and pads, safety goggles, gloves and disposal bags or containers. But spills of oils and hazardous chemicals require more specific materials and absorbents, so you may need more that one type of spill kit across your site.

When implementing your workplace spill kits, consult your emergency response plan and risk assessments. These detail the emergency spill scenarios likely in your workplace so you’ll know the type and capacity of emergency spill kits needed.  To make sure you’re prepared for any emergency spill, you’ll need emergency spill kits next to every area that’s identified as a potential spill risk.

Inspection and maintenance of spill kits will help protect your business

A spill kit is your company’s first line of response to any emergency liquid spill. Regular inspections of the spill kits used on your sites are important to identify any areas of improvement needed. Maintaining your spill kits to a gold-standard is vital for a number of reasons:

  1. A well maintained emergency spill kit will give your staff the confidence, tools and equipment needed to respond to an emergency spill efficiently and effectively. A fully stocked, liquid-suitable emergency kit will contain absorbents and accessories to help to protect your staff as well as limit any damage that can be caused from the spill.


 

  1. Spills can cause irreversible environmental damage and pollution to the surrounding area, particularly if they enter waterways. Keeping your spill kits stocked with the correct equipment needed for absorbing spills such as mats and pads, as well as proper disposal equipment will reduce any harmful potential environmental impact.


 

  1. Cleaning up spill damage is time consuming and costly, so being able to contain a spill when it first occurs with a well managed spill kit is imperative. Investing in inspection and maintenance of your spill kits will save you time, hassle and money.


 

  1. Consequences of out of control spills include negative publicity, damage to staff health and legal liability for any environmental damage. Maintaining your emergency spill kits to a high, useable standard will help ensure you remain legally compliant at all times.


 

How to maintain emergency spill kits across your business

It’s important that your workplace has a culture of responsibility and proactive management of spill kit maintenance. We recommend inspection of emergency spill kits across the site at least every month. Training staff in the correct management and protocols of spill management and prevention, including the maintenance of emergency spill kits is also important. This will give your employees the confidence to react to any spills professionally, as well as giving them the knowledge and tools to manage and understand the contents of emergency spill kits.

Spillcraft delivers effective and up-to-date training in all areas of legislation and spill response. To discuss how we can help your business, call 01606 352 679 or email [email protected] today.