News

A nitric acid spill at an engineering firm in Princes Risborough resulted in the attendance of two fire engines and a specialist equipment vehicle.

About a litre of nitric acid was spilled at Total Carbide on Picts Lane on the 16th of November. One person was taken to hospital as a direct result of the spill and is believed to have suffered breathing difficulties after breathing in the fumes.

One fire engine from Princes Risborough and one from nearby Aylesbury attended the scene. They were joined by a specialist equipment vehicle from Aylesbury and the Operational Support Unit from Great Missenden. The fire brigade had to use gas-tight suits to investigate the spilled liquid, which was contained using specialist spill response equipment.

Chemical spill kits

It’s important, in the event of a spill, that you have the right spill control equipment to contain the spill. Absorbent pads, pillows and socks are available in specialist types, designed to cope with chemical spills and spills of other hazardous liquids. There are also chemical neutralising agents available from spill response companies that can effectively eliminate the hazardous chemical.

A firm in Barbourne has been told by Worcester Magistrate’s Court that it will have to pay a fine of £12,000 and costs of £5,563 after it was found guilty of polluting a brook in Gheluvelt park, Worcester.

Mark Group Limited of Leicester pleaded guilty to the charges of polluting Barbourne Brook on the 17th of November 2008.

The Environment Agency received information on the 14th of November 2008 about oil being present in the brook. Upon investigation, they traced the oil to an outflow near the premises of Mark Group Ltd. Environment Agency officers discovered staining in the yard and on the road suggesting someone had tried to clean up an oil spill. Three gullies in the road also contained a large amount of oil.

Mark Group claimed that the oil was spilled when a redundant oil tank was dropped. There was unfortunately no spill clean-up equipment or absorbents on the industrial site.

The escaped oil polluted Barbourne Brook before finding its way to the River Severn. Swans and ducks in Gheluvelt park had to be treated for oil contamination due to the spill.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency stated:

“This company failed to fulfil some pretty basic environmental responsibilities, resulting in the serious oiling of some wildfowl. Companies who do not train or supervise their staff properly will be held to account for any pollution they cause. If the company had made sure these oil tanks were properly handled this whole incident could have been avoided. Companies are legally obliged to check that all wastes they produce are passed to a Registered Waste Carrier. They can check this online at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.”

An energy company based in Scotland has refused to give full details about its spill response plan should there be an accident when it is drilling for oil in the Arctic.

The company, Cairn Energy, is due to carry out tests in the Greenland area in the spring. An investigation carried out by the BBC and the Greenland government has found the lack of information was in part to stop third party companies finding out the energy company’s plans.

The Arctic has still been largely unexplored in the search for oil, with many experts believing that there are about a quarter of the world’s oil reserves still lying undiscovered in the region.

A marine pollution expert from the University of Liverpool, Dr Martin Preston, has expressed his concern at the lack of information, he stated:

"I think they are making comments about using really rather standard techniques which are employed elsewhere and I'm not sure they've really taken on board some of the risks that are associated with this high latitude work. And that worries me."

Cairn’s Alpha oil rig was occupied by Greenpeace protestors in August before they were arrested.

Cairn say they have given the Greenland government a detailed spill response plan should a spill occur and will run two rigs in tandem so one can act as a relief well should a blow-out happen.

Spill kits come in a range of sizes, from small sized kits that can deal with the smallest of spills, to kits that have to be pushed along in a wheelie bin container that can cope with spills of over 1200 litres of liquid.

Mini spill kits only have the absorbency capacity to soak up liquids of up to 10 litres in volume. But this is quite an achievement, considering they come in a small pouch that can be tucked away in the boot of your car or positioned for emergency use on a forklift truck.

Mini oil spill kits

Mini oil spill kits have been specially used to deal with the clean up of oil and as such can work without absorbing water. This makes them the perfect spill kit to use when an oil spill enters a watercourse or drain. The absorbent pads will thus only collect the spilled oil which makes them super-efficient.

Being small in size, mini spill kits are also small in price and because there is minimal storage needed they can be carried with you wherever you go.

A diesel spill in the River Tawd is being investigated by the Environment Agency. It was initially noticed by passersby who were crossing a bridge near Skelmersdale police station. The agency were contacted and sent an inspecting officer to gather samples.

The Environment Agency quickly deduced that the spill was diesel and went about making provisions to contain the spill and find the source of the problem.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency, speaking in the Ormskirk and Skelmersdale advertiser stated:

“The source of the pollution has been identified and we have been working to gather evidence, and assess the environmental impact of the spill.

“Once our investigation is complete we will decide what, if any, enforcement action to take.”

Passerby Rob Dobson noticed the spill, he stated in the same publication:

“It looked like it just had oil on the water. It was different colours. It looked like quite a lot. All the water had been contaminated. It was not just one little speck.”

The Environment Agency has confirmed that he source had come from Skelmersdale but have not given any further details as yet.

It may not be viable to have a spill kit at every area in your factory where a spill may occur, so having a spill kit that is portable and easily deployed if a spill happens is always a good idea.

Holdall spill kits are kits that contain everything you need to deal with a small sized spill. They can be carried over the shoulder and so can be kept at hand ready to deal with a spill. They are the perfect kit to keep in your truck or van so you can cope with spills while on the move.

Holdall chemical spill kits

These spill kits contain enough spill control equipment to cope with a spill up to 75 litres in volume. They can be used to contain hazardous chemical spills and will contain items such as absorbent pads, absorbent socks, PPE and a disposal bag to put the used absorbents into after you have clean the spill.

Holdall oil spill kits

Designed specifically for use with oil spills, oil holdall spill kits can absorb up to 75 litres of liquid. They contain similar absorbent materials to chemical holdall spill kits and fully comply with current ISO and BS standards.

If you use fuel oils and lubricants at your industrial site, you will be aware of the hazards concerning the safe keeping of these liquids. You may even have a specialist spill containment policy in place and have trained a number of your staff regarding what to do in case of a spill.

If you have spill control equipment on site, you may be familiar with the common types of equipment such as absorbent mats, absorbent pads and absorbent pillows. These are excellent methods to use to control and clean any spill and are perfect to have in stock in case of a spill. However, if you want a type of spill absorbent that you can use in exact quantities to soak up the relevant amount of spilled liquid, you should look no further than absorbent granules.

Absorbent granules

The best thing about using absorbent granules is that they can be deployed in the exact amount to cope with the spill. This means there is no wastage of the spill control product and hence the product is extremely cost-effective. Spill absorbent granules are fire retardant and manufactured from recycled materials, they can be used to soak up water, fuel and oil based spills.

Bunded fuel tanks are now built to conform to the Oil Storage Regulations 2001 and OFTEC OFS T200 standards.

Five thousand litre capacity oil storage tanks are the ideal type of bunded fuel tank to have at your industrial site to fulfil many fuel storage and filling solutions. They are perfect for scenarios such as:

• The refuelling of fuel powered vehicles such as fork lift trucks

• Refuelling of plant machinery and equipment

• The bulk containment of paraffin, diesel or kerosene

Some bunded fuel storage tanks with a capacity in excess of 5,000 litres also come with fuel pump, automatic shut off nozzle, fuel gauge, a fuel filter and a flow metre.

Bunded fuel tanks and stations manufactured in steel can store fuel in quantities from about 500 litres up to about 60,000 litres, meaning you should be able to find something suitable for your application.

If you need your old tank decommissioning and the new tank installing, this can also be done by some specialist fuel tank suppliers, who will do everything in accordance with current regulations. Bunded fuel tanks can also be purchased in a polyethylene construction which is equally as hard wearing as steel.

A chemical spill at a printing company in Pinvin at the weekend was attended by teams of fire fighters and an environmental protection unit.

The chemical spill occurred on Saturday night at the Polestar Varnicoat printing plant in Pinvin at around 11pm. Fire fighters attended the plant after learning that the spilled substances contained toluene and solvents and had been spilled both indoors and outdoors.

The fire brigade sent engines from Malvern, Pershore and Worcester and an incident response unit attended the scene from Droitwich station.

Polestar employees pumped the spilt chemical into storage tanks with the fire brigade at the ready in case the toxic chemicals caught fire.

Evesham environmental protection unit, who also attended, used chemical absorbents to soak up the toluene water mixture and put procedures in place to minimise the impact of any environmental pollution.

Chemical absorbents

There is a range of specialist chemical absorbents available in the market, that perform well in situations such as the chemical spill at Pinvin. Chemical absorbent pads and socks are the perfect way to soak up the spilled chemical and also stop the liquid finding its way into the normal waste drainage system.