Personal protective equipment for spills

The cleanup and containment of spills of hazardous liquids and chemicals is an essential consideration for all industries. That is why they have to have safe systems of work in place to deal with any spillages and to make sure that their employees are safe when handling hazardous substances.

Employers are duty bound to provide their employees with personal protective equipment (PPE) such as protective coveralls, heavy duty disposable gloves and splash resistant goggles. Most employees will use PPE on a daily basis as part of their job but it is also important that employers provide access to such equipment in areas that are likely to face spillage issues.

There can be stringent safe systems of work in place and there can still be a spill, so it is really important for employers to focus on this area heavily when choosing other spill clean up or containment devices such as spill kits or absorbents.

If you have a look online at the various spill kits available, you will find that most contain some sort of PPE as part of the package. However it is important to remember that having additional equipment on hand at the time of the spill is also important and can really make difference in the time scale that the spill is contained and cleaned.