Pollution incident response guidelines
Many industrial sites use a variety of liquids to ensure the correct functioning of the machines that they use, with oil the primary fluid used. Oil is however not a clean fluid and as such many sites have to make sure that machines are kept clean and the oil that is used is not spilt and hence does not pollute the environment.
The oil used in large industrial machines needs to be changed on a regular basis, as is the same in your car engine, so there is the likelihood of leaks or spills occurring. The used oil has to be disposed of correctly and there are specialised companies who will do this for you. But what happens if you have a leak or a spill when changing the oil? And, have you processes in place to cope with situations like this?
If you have an oil leak at your industrial site, you must make sure that the oil does not find its way into the drainage system. Any oil spilled should be cleaned up using appropriate spill kit equipment so it can be disposed of properly. The Environment Agency has produced a document to help companies plan an incident response strategy. It’s called PPG 21 (Pollution Prevention Guidelines 21) and can be found on the Environment Agency website.