Corrosive chemicals can cause immense damage if they’re not stored and handled correctly. But there’s some simple measures that you can implement to decrease the risk of corrosion, health hazards and environmental harm. We’ve compiled a list of 6 quick tips that you can implement at your site right away to improve safety and compliance. Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start for anyone who’s let corrosive chemical safety slip on their to-do list.
1. Don’t Ignore Leaks or Spills
You may not like to admit it, but there’s probably a chance that you’ve worked in a situation where a leak or spill wasn’t properly tended to. In busy workplaces, where there’s various liquid chemicals being used every day, it’s easy to overlook these leaks and spills. But thinking that a small spill is harmless is a real hazard if you’re carrying any type of dangerous good, such as corrosive chemicals, flammable liquids, oxidizing agents and other substances.
To avoid hazards that can affect the health of your staff, or impact the safety of your operations, it’s important to tend to those leaks and spills as soon as they occur.
Make sure you:
- Correctly identify the spilled liquid - so you can select the right method of clean up and disposal.
- Cordon off the area – so the spill isn’t tracked through other areas of your workplace; and staff remain unaffected and safe.
- Alert the trained spill response staff - only trained staff with dangerous goods knowledge should be tasked with cleaning up a spill. They must be dressed in full PPE to commence the clean up.
- Identify and isolate all hazards at the site – hazards could include the presence of incompatible substances or materials that may be affected by the spill.
- Select an appropriate spill kit - corrosives can be generally cleaned up with a chemical spill kit as these are suitable for harsher substances.
- Contain the chemical – stop the spill by using your absorbent materials including pillows, pads or booms.
- Clean up the corrosive spill – corrosive substances should be carefully mopped up with absorbent pads or a suitable floor sweep (you may have to neutralise acids prior to cleaning them up – refer to your safety data sheet). Decontaminate the spill area.
- Dispose of the waste – using the bags provided in your corrosive chemical spill kit, make sure that all waste and soiled products are placed in the bags. It’s extremely important to ensure that the disposal of the chemical and effluent is in line with the recommendations of the EPA, health department and your local waste authority. Refer to your safety data sheet for precautions to take during the disposal process.
REMEMBER: Corrosives can attack a range of materials, including stone, metal and living tissue. Any leaks or spills of a corrosive chemical could negatively impact the safety at your site and the health of your workers. Due to the acidity of alkalinity of these chemicals, even small volumes or low concentrates of corrosive chemicals can harm the environment and ecosystems they support.
2. Bund Your Drums and IBCs
They say that prevention is better than cure, and that’s definitely the case when it comes to Class 8 spill prevention. When using corrosive chemicals at your site, it’s important that they remain bunded at all times.
Whether they’re being used indoors or outdoors, corrosive chemicals can create problems for property and the environment – as well as inflict harm on the staff who are handling them.
So, to stop the spread of corrosive substances in your workplace, it’s vital that all drums and IBCs are bunded from the time they are delivered to your site.
Dangerous goods storage, while essential, is only one step of the process when controlling the risk of corrosives. Think about all the other ways in which the drum or IBC could spill.
A corrosive-resistant bund can save your site and the environment from the safety issues related to corrosive chemical leaks and spills.
Corrosives may leak or spill when they’re being decanted, transferred or used, so providing corrosion-resistant bunding to capture the inevitable spillage is a fast and effective control that will instantly improve safety in your operations.
IMPORTANT: Did you know that our polyethylene IBC bunds come with the additional option of dispensing trays, so you have extra spill protection while you’re dispensing the chemicals?
3. Look After Your PPE
We may be stating the obvious, but when you’re working with corrosive substances, personal protective equipment is just part of the job.
The Australian Standard for corrosive chemicals explains that personal protective equipment is a requirement for the handling of Class 8 chemicals.
PPE requirements will be stated in the chemical’s safety data sheet and may include provision for:
- Eyewear
- Safety footwear
- Elbow-length protective gloves
- Respirators and self-contained breathing apparatus
- Protective clothing suitable for use with your specific corrosive substance
With the necessity for PPE when working with corrosives, it’s essential that the equipment is properly laundered and returned to a safe, designated spot after use. We recommend the use of PPE cabinets, which can help increase the longevity of your personal protective gear.
REMEMBER: It’s a requirement of the Australian Standard AS 3780 that all personal protective equipment (as well as other safety equipment such as clean-up materials and first aid kits) are in serviceable condition before the commencement of work.
4. Move Chemical Packages Safely
There’s a range of accidents that can occur when corrosive packages are being transferred around a worksite. From physical injuries caused by staff lifting heavy items or bending to retrieve goods to accidental releases of chemicals, it’s a good idea to streamline the whole process by implementing the use of chemical handling equipment.
Chemical handling equipment will bolster the safety of your site by allowing your staff to transport chemicals through the use of dollies or trollies.
Utilise bunding and handling equipment to reduce the likelihood and impact of accidents.
5. Identify Incompatibility Hazards
If you’re a regular reader of our posts, you’ll know how important it is to identify and segregate incompatible chemicals. Class 8 corrosives are incompatible with many of the dangerous goods classes, and must be kept separate to maintain safety and compliance.
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Some corrosives may react with materials — such as synthetic fibres, natural fibres and metals. They may also react with other corrosives, such as acids and bases.
Always check your safety data sheet for each specific product onsite to determine the incompatibility hazards which may be present in your workplace. You should also ensure that all storage situations apply the recommendations in that SDS, regardless of how small or large the quantity of Class 8 chemicals is.
Segregation of acids and bases can be achieved by following the segregation distance requirements or installing separate cabinets or dual compartment storage. The dual compartments of some corrosive substance storage cabinets allow for acids and bases to be stored within the same cabinet – but segregated to maintain compliance and safety.
IMPORTANT: To assist with your identification and segregation process, you should keep your SDS in a safe, static location (such as in a document box attached to a Class 8 cabinet) so the safety data sheets are always available for staff to refer back to.
6. Store Chemicals Properly
Whether you’re storing small bottles of acid or drums of corrosive base, it’s a no-brainer that your storage should be suitable for the type of chemical (and package) that you’re storing.
Segregation and proper chemical storage is important for corrosives as they can react with many substances and materials – including other corrosives.
Corrosive storage is a little different to other types of storage, as the corrosiveness of the chemical affects how the cabinets or outdoor stores are constructed. To prevent corrosion of the storage equipment, there are features that our equipment offers.
This includes:
- Heavy duty polyethylene cabinets for highly corrosive substances
- Sheet steel cabinets with PVC trays on shelves and in spill sump
- Outdoor storage containers with PVC spill trays on shelves and a corrosion-resistant spill sump lining
In addition to the corrosion protection offered by our cabinets and outdoor stores, there is also the risk control features to ensure adequate ventilation of outdoor stores, liquid and vapour containment for indoor cabinets, and security for both types of DG storage equipment to prevent unauthorised use of these harsh chemicals.
REMEMBER: Your equipment must be selected, installed, used and maintained to meet the requirements of the Australian Standard. Make sure that you regularly inspect your storage equipment and practice diligent housekeeping to keep the equipment free from chemical residue.
Safer Corrosive Substance Handling and Storage
While we’ve highlighted 5 easy ways to improve safety and compliance at your worksite, there are a range of hazards that may be present if you’re carrying dangerous goods or hazardous chemicals. The first step in providing an effective risk management approach to your workplace, is to correctly identify the chemicals and assess the risk.
If you haven’t conducted a site inspection and risk assessment before, we have a handy template pack that can help speed up the process. Get your free copy of our risk assessment template pack today – and take the next steps toward creating a safer workplace.
