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There are many different substances available that may constitute a risk to a person’s health if they come into contact with them. However many people have little regard for the health and safety of themselves and others, so it’s important that they are trained and instructed on how to use the product properly. The adage ‘they would not sell it if it wasn’t safe’ just won’t past muster because many products that are sold legally are in fact extremely dangerous. Just because you might not have heard of the trade name, does not mean you can ignore the warnings on the label.

Every organisation needs to have control equipment in place to stop accidents involving dangerous substances from taking place. And, these come in many forms such as spray paint booths, bunded tanks and even dust reducing techniques using water. Once you have your control system in place, you need to make sure that the equipment is checked and maintained on a regular basis so you have the best level of protection. A good thing to do here is have a nominated person in charge of that particular type of equipment. They should check the system is not spilling or emitting uncontrolled contaminants, works as it was intended and employees know how to use the system properly.

The latest attempt by BP to try to cap the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been put back by a few days. It is taking the company longer than expected to fit a new device over the leak. The new ‘top hat’ device is a smaller solution than the 125 tonne spill containment dome that was lowered onto the sea floor last week.

When fitted, the top hat will be positioned over the tear in the pipe to partially stop the leak. BP hope to stop hydrates forming in the device by pumping methanol into it to disperse the gas and water, a problem that stopped the previous spill containment device working.

When the top hat is in place, oil will be able to be pumped back to the surface, but BP still plan to lower the original containment dome over the top hat to provide a better seal. To stop hydrates building up, they plan this time to pump warm water into the structure as it is lowered.

It is estimated that the spill has already cost BP around £300m, but the total bill which may not be realised for many years has been estimated to be as high as £13.6bn.

COSHH state that employers have to asses risks and prevent or control them. But it’s important for every site that uses dangerous materials to perform a risk assessment on the substance, no matter how infrequently or how little the substance is used.

Companies that have five or more staff have to record the risk assessment by law but companies with fewer staff than this should also make a note of what steps they have taken to control the risks to their employees. This might be difficult if you haven’t done anything like this before, but you can get loads of information from the HSE website to help you out.

If you can’t find any good practice information regarding the dangerous substances you have on site, you can always ask the supplier of the substance or trade association. It’s always worth searching online to see if there is any information about the substance here.

When you have done the risk assessment, it’s worth creating a list of ‘standard operating procedures’ that detail how employees should undertake tasks when using or moving the substance. This might mean training your employees or supervision while using the substance, but if you have adequate control measures in place, any spill control method will be quickly implemented.

We have mentioned before the importance of keeping your work employees away from substances that may be harmful to their health. We have also discussed how workers might come into contact with some of these substances, but we have rarely discussed how dangerous substances are marked so they can be identified as dangerous.

If a product is classified as dangerous, it will either have a European danger symbol or one of the new international symbols that have just replaced the European symbols.

Safety data sheet information

Some products are dangerous to supply. If this is the case they will have a label that contains at least one hazard symbol. These symbols are easily identifiable and you can even find them on everyday products such as bleach or solvents. If a product is dangerous to supply, the supplier of the product must provide the customer with a safety data sheet, however some of these can be difficult to understand.

The best place to look on the data sheet is part 15 which will tell you what the dangers are and parts 4 to 8 which tell you about the storage requirements and handling requirements necessary for the substance. If you haven’t already got the necessary storage containment devices such as an oil storage tank or a bunded diesel tank you can easily find a supplier online.

As BP still try to work out a solution to stem the oil flowing at a rate of 5000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana National Guard are taking steps to try to keep the slick from reaching areas of great ecological importance.

Attempts to lower a 98 tonne funnel over the leak at the weekend to control the leak failed. And BP are currently exploring other avenues to try to contain the leak including using a smaller domed structure. Meanwhile thousand of booms have been used to try to contain some of the spill and the National Guard have been helping to air lift absorbents and supplies to workers on the ground.

A huge makeshift barrier is also being created to try to stop the oil from coming into contact with fragile marshland on the Louisiana coastline. Troops are using heavy lifting equipment and helicopters to prevent the oil coming up an estuary.

Hopefully BP will be able to contain the leak over the coming days. Oil has been gushing out of the seabed since the 20th of April when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded killing eleven employees.

BPs attempts to lower a 98 tonne funnel to the seabed off the Louisiana coastline failed at the weekend, after a build up gas hydrates blocked the exit at the top of the funnel. The funnel had been specially manufactured by BP, to try to stop the flow of thousands of gallons of oil that is leaking every day into the sea from a blown out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Engineers are now looking at another possible solution to stem the leak or make modifications to the current spill containment design. Meanwhile, huge numbers of absorbents have been laid along the coastline of Dauphin Island to try to save the resort area from an environmental disaster. Ships have also been laying inflatable booms on the surface of the sea around the spill over the last couple of weeks in an effort to contain the spill.

It is estimated that about 3.5 million gallons of oil has leaked from the blown out well since the accident two weeks ago and an area of about 2,000 square miles is now affected.

The next two solutions being looked at to stop the leak include using a smaller funnel that would contain less water, so theoretically the ice like gas hydrates would not be able to accumulate. Or to use a “junk shot” of materials including rubber that would be dropped over the leak source.

In our last article, we discussed the importance of determining the substances that may be at your place of work which may pose a risk to employees and gave some information that enabled the reader ways to find out what substances posed what level of risk. In this article we will discuss the different ways in which workers may be exposed to a hazardous substance.

Workers can be exposed to hazardous substances in a number of ways:

• By skin contact

• Contact with eyes

• Ingesting harmful substances

• Breathing in dust, vapour, mist, fumes or gas

• Through a skin puncture wound

All these reasons of exposure contain different levels of risk. That risk depends of course on the harmful substance that you are exposed to.

Skin contact is one of the most common ways you can come into contact with a harmful substance. Splashing of liquids, inadvertent direct contact and direct contact are three of the ways skin contact may happen. Workers should be aware that if a liquid spill happens at their place of work, they should deal with the spill by first making sure they are adequately protected by using personal protective equipment and then by using the correct spill containment devices, like booms, to prevent any further contamination.

In the last article we mentioned how important it is for employers to look after their employees by controlling hazardous substances and making their employees aware about the dangers of coming into contact with these substances.

Dangerous substances come in many different forms such clouds of dust from wood or paper deposits, vapour from solvent based products or chemicals. As an employer it is your duty to find out what dangerous products you may have on site, so you can take the necessary action.

So how can you find out what substances are dangerous?

• Check the information leaflet or manufacturers stamp on the product. The safety data sheet that should be supplied with dangerous products should contain this information.

• Ask your supplier or sales rep to supply you with the relevant data when you buy a product.

• Visit the HSE’s website for information about the product.

It is only when you have the data to hand that you can work out the potential risks to your employees and do risk assessments to minimise the exposure risk. That way you can put procedures in place to cope with potential damaging situations like spills and exposure of dangerous substances to employees.

In the next article we will discuss the different ways in which workers might be exposed.

It is the duty of any business to make sure that their workers are not made ill by coming into contact with hazardous substances. For smaller businesses or self-employed workers you need to make sure you have adequate information to hand on how you can do this. For larger businesses that have many employees and where the control of hazardous substances can be more difficult, you need to seek professional advice.

Taking the right measures to control the exposure your employees have to hazardous substances may not only benefit the employees, it may also benefit you. Wastage of liquids or materials due to spills or leaks can cost businesses thousands of pounds every year, and having a cleaner site will improve moral and can also improve production and cleaning costs.

Some liquid substances you keep on site may be flammable or cause damage to your employees just by them coming into contact with the substance. For instance the Benzene found in crude oil, in high levels, can cause leukaemia.

All employers must therefore look at the substances that they have on site that may be harmful to an employees health and put into effect exposure control methods and control equipment so the risk is minimised. This might be emergency spill kits or bunded storage tanks or drums, whatever the risk is, it must be assessed and control measures put into place.