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The clean-up operation in the Gulf of Mexico has stalled due to the effects of Hurricane Alex. However there are now more than 44,500 people working on the relief operation, that’s 5,000 more than at the same time last week.

The efforts to collect oil from the surface of the water had been placed on hold because of the effects of Hurricane Alex, but BP is still sea trialling the huge skimming tanker named “A Whale”. Skimming devices and containment booms are already heavily being used in the region, with estimates that hundreds of miles of booms are currently in place across the coastline of four US states.

BP has seen costs for the clean-up operation and the digging of relief wells rise over the last few weeks. And initial estimates of the total cost for the clean-up now look wider than ever from the mark. The oil spill has so far cost BP $3.1 billion, that’s a rise of $470 million in just the last week alone. But with manpower costs rising and oil still leaking on the sea bed, they are expected to rise further in the next few weeks

One of the oldest and perhaps best methods to catch drips from machinery is to use a drip tray. Drip trays are the perfect devices to use to catch drips. And they are also the perfect way to keep your workplace clean of contaminants and hence hazard free.

A drip tray is perhaps the simplest form of spill containment device, but its use in a wide range of applications means that it is perhaps the best. Polyethylene drip traps can be bought in a huge array of sizes and are hence light in weight so are easy to move between applications. Polyethylene is resistant to most industrial liquids, including chemicals, and the trays can have a liquid capacity of anything up to 230 litres.

Liquid spill trays

Drip trays don’t have to be used underneath leaky manufacturing equipment. There versatility means you can also use them in a workshop or when you are carrying out maintenance on a piece of equipment. If you store your liquid consumables in the tray in between use, the chances of spills are reduced.

Drip trays can also be used with absorbent pads making an all-in-one spill solution. The pads can be changed as and when necessary, saving time and effort for the user and hence making any clean-up operation a lot easier.

If you use liquids at your industrial site, you will need a quick way to mop up spills or leaks. Any equipment that uses oil, such as rotating machinery, needs this liquid to lubricate its moving parts. The unfortunate downside of this is that oil and the machines that use oil, can be rather messy.

To improve health and safety on site, you need a spill clean-up method that is easily at hand. And to fulfil this requirement you can use absorbent rolls. Absorbent rolls are extremely versatile and can be used at countless different locations within your workplace. The long continuous roll can be mounted to the wall in made to measure dispensers and can thus be used as and when required.

Because absorbent rolls come in a continuous length, they can be ripped off to the exact quantity you need, allowing clean-up of a wide range of spill sizes. The dispensers can be positioned in areas of increased risk of spill and hence health and safety at your site can be improved.

Absorbent rolls can be bought specifically to cope with general spills or chemical spills. And because they are heat bonded, they will not separate when in use and will remain intact no matter how wet they get.

We take for granted the wheelie bins that our local council provide for us to use. Most local councils operate an efficient recycling scheme where different colour bins denote a different type of material than can be put into them. The bins are collected on a weekly or bi-monthly basis and the rubbish is taken away to its relative recycling depots.

Industrial wheelie bins

If you run a manufacturing or processing site, things can be a little different. You will have all sorts of different materials that you use on a daily basis, some that can be recycled and some that cannot. To cope with this type of industrial waste, you need some sort of similar scheme the local council employs. And what better way to use than to take their lead and use wheelie bins.

You can buy wheelie bins quite easily online in lots of different sizes. From the standard 120 litre bin most of us have at home to 360 litre standard bins and even 1100 super large push along bins. The standard bins operate in much the same way as the bins you have at home, while the super large bins have four castors and can be pushed along exceptionally easily.

Wheelie bins are available in a wide range of colour options, so you can colour code the bins at your site and they can even be bought with a range of lids, such as a bottle bank lid, so recycling is made even easier.

If you have intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) on site, you will need to take adequate precautions to ensure that the contents do not leak or spill and contaminate the surrounding area. IBCs are now commonly used for the storage and transportation of liquids at many sites across the UK.

IBCs usually have pallet-like bases, so that forklift trucks can easily lift and move them as necessary. However, it can be a common occurrence for the IBC to leak slightly when it is first opened or when in use. That’s why it is so important to have some sort of spill containment device under the IBC to catch any spills and prevent contamination.

IBC spill pallets fit neatly under the IBC and are designed to collect any spilled liquid from the container. The spill pallets all conform to the Oil Storage Regulations 2001 and are strong enough to cope with every day industrial use.

Some IBC spill pallets come in multi-container storage options, so two or more IBCs can be stored together.

The use of IBC spill pallets can minimise the impact of any spills on the surrounding area and make spill cleaning easy and less time consuming.

A new method is being trailed in the Gulf of Mexico to scoop up spilled oil from the surface of the sea. A giant oil tanker fitted with vents on the hull can skim the surface and separate any oil from the sea water and return the uncontaminated water back into the sea.

Smaller spill containment vessels are currently working off the coast of Louisiana, but their containment efforts have been hampered by the rough conditions.

It is hoped that the tanker, when fully operational, will be able to process 21 million gallons of collected oil/water every day. The ship being used is a Taiwanese vessel called “A Whale” and is collecting oil in much the same way as a baleen whale sifts plankton.

There are currently two oil collection vessels above the oil leak, capturing approximately 25,000 barrels of crude oil every day through the rigged up siphoning device fitted to the damaged blowout preventer. It is hoped a third vessel will join them in the coming days.

The giant skimming tanker is still undergoing sea trials, with results expected later today.

If you need to store oil at your industrial site, a polyethylene storage tank is a great idea. The oil storage regulations 2001 state that oil needs to be kept in a container which is unlikely to burst or leak and must be situated within a secondary containment system. Polyethylene tanks fit these suitability criteria perfectly and because they are made from polyethylene they are both corrosion free and maintenance free.

One of the best things about polyethylene oil storage tanks is they are really competitively priced. And with polyethylene bunded oil storage tanks available in capacities that can take up to 5,000 litres of oil, you should be able to choose one suitable for your application.

Polyethylene bunded tanks are available in wide array of different sizes so can fit into the space you have. They are also available in horizontal and vertical options. Because polyethylene is corrosion free, the tanks can last for many years and because of this some come with a manufacturer’s warranty of at least 10 years. All you need to do is choose a suitable wireless contents gauge and you can closely check how much oil you have left.

It is unfortunate that even if you have the strictest of spill controls, a spill can still occur. That’s why it’s so important that you prepare for a spill and make all the employees on your site aware that a spill may happen and what to do should this occur.

Having standard operating procedures in place is a step in the right direction for spill control. If you have a procedure that has been developed and honed, it will tell you the right way to treat a certain type of spill and help your employees remember the spill training they may have had a few months previously.

It’s important to have standard operating procedures in place and also to train employees on how to contain and clean up the spill. They should have detailed knowledge of the spill containment and absorbent materials on site and where to find them. They should also be instructed on what type of personal protective equipment to wear for different types of spills and contribute positively to make the spill control and containment procedures work more effectively.

If you have hazardous substances on site, it’s worth sending all your front line staff on a spill awareness course. They can then be aware of the potential problems and be trained on what to do if a spill occurs at your industrial site.

As can be seen in the Gulf of Mexico, containment booms are an essential spill containment device that can be used even in the harshest environmental conditions. They are perfect to use either on rivers, ponds or on open water and can be easily attached together to form a longer barrier or on the riverbank to prevent the spill further damaging the river’s ecosystem.

Spill containment booms are light in weight so are easily transportable and are available in many different lengths. Providing a fence-like barrier across a river or a stream and available in a highly visible colour, the booms can be deployed in seconds quickening the spill containment effort.

It is important to be prepared for spills at all times. A spill often happens at the most unexpected and inopportune moment so cannot be planned for. But because they are unplanned it does not mean that we can’t have the right equipment ready to tackle the spill. Nor should we be under practiced at dealing with spills, practice makes perfect and the less time we spend stopping the problem becoming worse can only have a positive effect on our environment. This makes practicing for spills nearly as important as the equipment used to contain them and clean them up.