News

There are many instances in which a person needs to make sure the soles of their feet are disinfected before entering a different part of a factory or quarantined area.

Disinfectant mats work by holding a certain amount of disinfectant in the mat and administering this to the soles of a person’s feet who walks across the mat. There is no need to sink the mat into the floor either. The mat simply sits on the ground surface and can be walked across when foot disinfectant is necessary.

One of the most widely used applications for disinfectant mats in food manufacturing plants where high levels of hygiene are a prerequisite. They can also be used at animal markets and auctions to stop the spread of disease.

Disinfectant mats are available in range of different sizes that can hold different volumes of disinfectant liquid. They are easy to clean and can be reused a number of times.

Large 1m x 2.5m mats can hold around 50 litres of fluid and can be held to the ground by pegs or rope, making them an excellent choice for use at agricultural events or open days.

Every industrial site should make sure that they are adequately prepared in case a spill of a hazardous liquid occurs. And this doesn’t just mean having the right spill kit to hand. Spill signage is equally important and can help greatly when you have a spill.

Many industrial sites have spill kits located in designated areas of the plant to cope with a spill. However, there are a number of different types of spill kits available that are better then others at dealing with different types of spill. For example if the spilled liquid is oil, an oil specific spill kit will work more efficiently.

It’s for the above reason that spill kit signs should be used next to every spill kit, so the user knows exactly what the kit will and won’t do. Spill kit signs can display important information about the spill kit including the spill kits primary use and what fluids not to use the spill kit on.

Spill kit signs are also available that tell a person what to do in the event of an emergency spill, including who to contact and where to find appropriate spill control measures.

An oil spill from a pipeline in Alberta, Canada, is one of the biggest spills the region has seen in over thirty five years, say company officials.

The Plains Midstream Canada Rainbow pipeline transports oil from Zama in the north of Alberta to the state capital Edmonton. Approximately 28,000 barrels of oil have been released at the spill site, which is around 60 miles north east of Peace River. Most of the oil has now been contained using various spill control methods including absorbent booms. A small amount of oil has however found its way into a wetland reserve near the spill site.

As yet the cause of the spill is not known, but repairs have now taken place and the oil is no longer leaking.

The pipeline carries over 180,000 barrels of oil every day to Edmonton and is owned by Plains All American. The pipeline was built in the mid sixties and this spill is only the second time a spill of this magnitude has occurred. The clean-up operation has been hampered by wildfires in the region with local residents and spill team members evacuated from the area.

One of the biggest spill control exercises of its kind has just been carried out off the coast of Shetland.

The oil spill test run, code named Exercise Sula, was carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

During the spill control exercise a huge spill control boom was deployed and a Hercules plane sprayed dispersants on the water to break up the fake spill.

Before the exercise took place the director of Exercise Sula stated:

"The UK's offshore safety and environmental regulatory regime is one of the most robust in the world and the industry's record is strong.

"Nevertheless, it's right that we continue to test our response capability.

"Exercise Sula will test the participants' response to an unfolding scenario, involving the uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons into the sea from a deep water well operated by Chevron Upstream Europe at the Cambo well site, 86 miles west of Shetland.

"This exercise will give the UK an opportunity to assess its response capability to a release from a wellhead 1,000m below the surface.

"Because the exercise scenario involves the weather and tides forcing the oil to land onshore, we'll also have the opportunity to test a shoreline response in Shetland."

The exercise was held back by the difficult weather conditions and only one of the planned spill control booms was eventually deployed.

Traffic around Manchester ground to a halt last Monday (16th of May), after an accident on the M60 motorway, which closed two lanes of the carriageway.

The accident happened after a lorry reportedly hit a gantry sign and overturned, spilling fuel and its cargo across the northbound carriageway. Due to the incident a number of cars were also damaged after they swerved to avoid the lorry and hit debris in the road.

The accident happened at Junction 11, near the Trafford Centre, and caused chaos during the busy rush hour period.

The two lanes were closed shortly after the incident, at around 2pm, and the motorway did not fully reopen until the early hours of the morning.

Police had to use special absorbent pads to soak up the spilled fuel and used a special cherry picker to right the overturned vehicle.

VOSA have seized the truck and are due to carry out an investigation to try to find out why the incident happened.

A water company have been fined over £17,000 after sewage flowed into a canal. Thames Water admitted liability for the spill at Woking Magistrates court after an environment agency worker noticed a cloudy discharge entering the water.

The Basingstoke Canal was polluted in the incident, with as many as 300 fish killed. Thames Water commented that a local sewer had become blocked with cooking fat and the sewage had unfortunately overflowed into the canal.

The remnants of the sewage spill were stopped from further polluting the canal by using booms across the canal to stop the spread of the spill, but a significant amount of damage was already done.

Ruth Clayden, the environment officer on the case stated:

“This was a distressing incident and it was upsetting to see so many fish either dead or gasping for life.

“The area is popular with anglers due to its urban location, and is fished regularly.

“Water companies have a statutory duty to maintain their sewers, which Thames Water had not done in this case.

“It sends a clear message to other companies that if you fail in your environmental responsibilities you may be prosecuted.”

The environment minister has purportedly said that the spillage of oil on a Guernsey beach was

“a deliberate act of vandalism”.

On Friday walkers at the north end of the Vazon beach were horrified to find that a huge quantity of oil had apparently been poured over the sea wall steps. The environment department attended and confirmed that a

"significant quantity of what appears to be old engine oil"

had indeed been disposed of on the beach.

Spill response experts managed to remove most of the spilled oil on the same day using specialist absorbent sheets designed to remove oil. They followed this by using absorbent granules on the areas where the oil still needed to be removed.

Guernsey’s deputy environment minister, Peter Sirett, condoned the actions. He said that the people who did it were without

"sense of reason and understanding about the planet they live on"

.

He further commented:

"Not only have they ruined the area for beach users they have shown a total disregard for their and our environment."

There are many industrial applications that use hazardous substances and liquids. Because of this the sites that use them have to have some sort of control procedures in place to cope with spills of these substances. In every instance, if a leak is noticed, immediate action must be taken to stop the leak.

If a leak is from a container such as a drum or IBC, removing the remaining contents of the container and placing them into another storage vessel can take some time. And may take even longer if there isn’t a suitable empty vessel available. As a temporary solution, lot of companies use a leak stopping compound that can be placed over the leak and stop it from further affecting the surrounding area. The leak seal is of course only temporary but it gives the technicians enough time to find a suitable method to remove the remaining liquid from the vessel.

Plug N Dyke Putty is one such seal and repair compound that can be used in situations such as this. The putty provides a temporary seal against the leakage of liquids including oils and petrols and because it is ready mixed it can be applied instantly to provide an effective seal.

Bunded liquid storage tanks have the added benefit of having a second skin, which can act as a spill control method if the inner skin of the tank fails. The tank’s second skin can hold the liquid contents of the tank and prevent leakage of the liquid into the surrounding environment.

Bunded oil tanks

Oil tanks that have a secondary containment device (bund) can store domestic heating oil and also fresh oil so it can be used when needed.

Bunded fuel tanks

These fuel tanks are the perfect way to store diesel or kerosene at an industrial site. They come in different sizes so can hold varying capacities of the liquid fuel.

Bunded waste oil tanks

Waste oil tanks that have a bund are a prerequisite at every vehicle service centre. They can hold used oil until it can be pumped away and disposed of properly.

All bunded tanks should meet the Oil Storage Regulations 2001 and be manufactured with a bund capacity which is 10% more than the capacity of the tank, so they will always be able to contain the full tank contents.