Spill management helps minimise the possibility of spills becoming a major issue.
If spills are left unchecked and untreated, they can cause severe environmental damage. Spills are also a massive potential liability for a company and its brand.
This is why it’s important to make sure that your spill management is up to standard.
But, how exactly should you do that? How do you make sure that your spill management plan is good enough?
How to Assess the Spill Risk of Your Business
Identify and describe all spill scenarios that could potentially happen.
- In general, the more kinds and quantities of liquid stored onsite, the more at risk the business is for spills.
- Always detail potential spill scenarios – big or small. Any kind of spill matters.
Analyse the probability of each spill scenario happening.
- As a rule of thumb, the more foot traffic there is in a particular storage area or the more it is used, the higher the likelihood of a spill scenario.
List down the possible consequences of each spill scenario.
- Consider the impact of each spill scenario on the environment, public health, employee safety, and the brand, as well as any possible financial impact on the business.
The business should, at all times, have the capability to contain the spill and clean it up effectively using whatever product is available. If the business cannot internally handle spills effectively, then it means that the business’ spill management plans are not up to standard.
A proper and effective spill management plan should include details on what employee and staff members should do if they find themselves dealing with a spill that they cannot handle using the available products and equipment.
Standards for Oil Spill Management
To achieve proper oil spill management, a business should:
- Ensure employees and staff have a sufficient and updated working knowledge of how to handle oil spills
- Ensure employees and staff fully understand the operation and associated risks
- Ensure that proper actions have been taken to minimise potential spill scenarios
- Ensure that the appropriate processes are in place to respond to a spill
It is important that businesses take oil spill management seriously.
These four steps help ensure proper spill management. If a business skips or misses one step, it can be argued to be a case of neglect. This opens up the business to liabilities, including damages and injuries resulting from oil spills.
When it comes to spills, proper spill procedure involves making sure that the facility has the necessary colour-coded spill kits and products on hand. This is to satisfy government regulations. But, more than that, following proper spill procedure also minimises the business’ risk for lawsuits and legal repercussions resulting from the improper handling of spills.
At the bare minimum, businesses should make sure that the spill products onsite are capable of absorbing potential spills effectively without leaving any residue. There should also be more than enough products on site.
Ultimately, the goal of making sure that your business’ spill management is up to standard is to comply with government regulations and minimise the business’s exposure to risk from oil spills. Learn more about spill management here.
