Page 26 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2019

CHEMICAL SAFETY TRAINING
Discussing Basic Spill Response Techniques During HazCom Training
Incorporating incidental spill response techniques into hazard communication training helps to keep employees safe during response.
BY KAREN D. HAMEL
Sometime shortly after the lid is removed from a preschooler’s sippy cup and is carried to the table, the glass slips and the milk is spilled on the floor. Reactions to this event can vary, but most preschoolers will freeze, gasp, and have a look of fear in their eyes. They certainly didn’t intend for this to happen, and they really do not know what to do next.
Spills happen in workplaces, too—but they are usually chemicals, not milk. When employees haven’t been taught how to clean up small spills properly or where to get the cleanup tools and materials, their response might resemble that of the unfortunate preschooler. With the right tools and training, they can quickly become more like a teenager who has been given the chore of cleaning up the bathroom. It certainly isn’t something that they’ve been wait- ing around all day to do, but they know how to do it, where to get the supplies, and what to do if they need some additional help or resources.
Recognizing Hazards
In workplaces, hazard communication training is a tool for educating employees about chemical hazards. It is used to teach them about the specific safety and health hazards that chemicals present in their work
areas and explain how product labels, standard oper- ating procedures, and other safeguards work together to help them avoid these hazards and protect them from harm.
Incorporating incidental spill response as a good housekeeping procedure, and teaching it during hazard communication training, will help promote overall safety efforts in the workplace. It can also spe- cifically minimize the chance of slip and fall incidents and downtime spent looking for someone else to re- spond to the situation.
Sizing Up Spills
Hundreds of thousands of different hazardous chemi- cals are used in the industry every day, and each has different properties that can cause harm. Some are flammable, others corrosive, others reactive and/or toxic. Employees must be taught to recognize how these properties can affect them as well as how to re- spond when hazardous chemicals spill.
Spills can be classified as either incidental or an emergency. A chemical’s properties, the location of the spill, the volume spilled, and the employee’s level of training are all factors to be considered when de- ciding whether a spill is incidental or an emergency.
Incidental spills are those that do not require em- ployees or others to evacuate the area during cleanup. They do not pose an immediate health risk. They are typically small and can be cleaned up quickly without harm to the employee.
Emergency spills are those that create an immedi- ate health or fire risk to employees in the area. Any employee who will respond to emergency spills must be properly trained in accordance with OSHA’s Haz- ardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Regulations. Employees not trained to this level should be taught when to evacuate and who to notify of the emergency spill situation.
Stocking Supplies
Spills are an interruption to the day. Few people are just sitting around waiting for a spill to happen so that they can go clean it up. Stocking spill response sup- plies in areas where liquids are likely to spill helps em- ployees to clean up spills quickly so that they can get back to their regular duties.
Supplies can include mops and buckets, squeegees,
22 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2019
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