Let’s face it — no matter how much we try to avoid them, spills happen. Common spills involve substances such as gasoline, oil, solvents, and cleaning chemicals. While small, in-house spills might be easy to clean up quickly, some fluids can be toxic when ingested or exposed to skin and can be hazardous to the environment. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that only a few quarts of oil can severely degrade a small stream. Spill preparedness means inventorying the hazardous substances you have onsite, evaluating the potential for spills, and planning for how you’ll respond to a spill.
Tonya works in the auto maintenance bay. On Friday, she is carrying a couple quarts of used oil to the used oil tank when she trips and spills oil all over the floor. There are a few different ways this episode could play out, but let’s look at the worst- and best-case scenarios.