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How To Find The Right Spill Kit & Maintain it Too

    Spill kits are vital for workplace safety as they prevent serious accidents occurring due to workplace spills, as well as environmental hazards from occurring. 

    But you need to make sure you have the fitting spill kit for the right spill, and that they are placed in the right areas, close enough to possible leaks as well as containing all the right things. This isn’t a straightforward process, so if you’d like to 

    Planning Matters

    If you don’t have the right type of spill kit on site, you’d be turning every spill into a time-consuming and frustrating job for you and your staff. 

    It can be as simple as you just not having the right type or the right quantity of absorbents, which will automatically create an unsafe workplace, which will be dangerous to your staff and the environment. 

    Here it’s important to know that every workplace has different site parameters, which means to remain both legally and morally compliant, each workplace will have different spill kit needs. The way to do this is by conducting a risk assessment. These assessments are based on a number of factors and essentially help you understand where the risks are, and then neutralise these risks. 

    Here are some of the factors that you need to keep in mind. 

    Where will your kit be used: Not all places have space to store a traditional spill kit, so the area the risk is will be taken into consideration. 

    What hazards are present: This is where you decide what risks are present and the quantity of these risks as well as how harmful they are. So for example, if you have a hazardous chemical in your workplace, you’ll need a chemical spill kit. 

    Biggest risks present: If these risks are located near high-traffic areas where slips and falls can occur, or near production lines where costly mistakes can be made, or anywhere near drains where you can contaminate the environment, you need to place spill kits accordingly.

    Frequency of spills: if spills happen often, you may need to include larger spill kits or take the appropriate steps to prevent spills from occurring so often. 

    Spill Kit Maintenance is Vital

    The best thing about spill kits is that they don’t need to be replaced after one use. They are designed to be maintained and restocked as products are used, but this is a process that needs to be done correctly for you to remain compliant. 

    Many suppliers charge a fee to come and restock kits, and even if you choose the best company out there, you still have to regularly check your spill kit to make sure it’s always ready to use.  

    It’s important to avoid having unusable spill kits by doing the following:

    •     Know exactly what each spill kit needs.
    •     Regularly check and maintain spill kits.
    •     Keep extra spill kit components on site.
    •     Have a staff member or manager take ownership of the kits and ensure everything is stocked. 
    •     Make sure the team understands the value of the spill kits.

    Don’t Cut Corners, Call Spill Station

    It is time-consuming to go through the processes of assessing, purchasing and maintaining a compliant spill kit, but as a business owner or safety manager it is your job to ensure your workplace remains safe for workers and the environment. 

    But if this seems like something you need guidance on, Spill Station is here to help. Australia’s leading distributor of safety supplies, they offer compliant spill kits in Australia but also offer risk assessments, maintenance audits and more. 

    Contact them today if you need help with spill kits.