Thechemical industry supports many other sectors, including manufacturing, health, and hospitality. Chemicals involve a lot of experiments. Although these lead to significant innovations and advancements worldwide, handling chemicals is risky. A chemical accident could result in many devastating effects, including radiation exposure, injuries, and death. When the correct planning and safety measures are put in place, it is possible to avoid disasters and hazardous situations.
Accidents occur due to several factors. Sometimes they result from the incorrect processing and treatment of chemicals. They can also result from unavoidable circumstances such as natural disasters like in Fukushima. Here, a nuclear power plant got damaged and leaked radioactive matter after a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Apart from jeopardizing your staff’s lives, accidents could damage your Pumpbiz equipment and facilities. The following tips will help enhance your safety when you are dealing with chemicals onsite.
1.Ensure adequate airflow
It is easy for the air quality in chemical manufacturing companies to become compromised. To boost safety levels, it is crucial to have adequate ventilation. To determine whether the exhaust system in your premises is sufficient, ensure that it can undergo about ten air changes every hour when your plants are in use. Additionally, you could use safety hoods.
Ensuring that each worker has enough hood space will increase their safety if they work with chemicals most of the time. You could fit each hood with a monitoring device to ensure that their performance level is at an optimum before use.
2.Keep the floors clean and dry
This may sound like a menial matter, but having dirty and slippery floors could lead to severe injuries and falls. Ensuring that your floors are dry and clean will significantly reduce the number of slip and fall accidents. Apart from falling, dirty, slippery floors increase the chances of spilling and dropping flammable and hazardous chemical materials. That could lead to fires and severe respiratory health issues.
Apart from keeping them clean and dry, you could also stock absorbent mat pads in areas that are more prone to spills. Providing a proper way to dispose of used cleaning materials will also decrease exposure, thus enhancing safety.
3.Utilizing general SOPs for all your chemicals
Every chemical has unique needs and hazards to ensure that workers handle them carefully for safety purposes. However, if your business handles a wide array of chemicals having separate protocols for each chemical increases the likelihood of mishandling, and it also complicates training.
A general standard operating procedure outlines safe handling, the correct use of PPEs, proper disposal, and proper handling of all chemicals. You can also use different literature such as flip charts to remind your staff of hazards on specific chemical compounds.
Enforcing safety at chemical industries will reduce your exposure and that of your staff to unstable reactants, radioactive compounds, flammable chemicals, among others. Following these tips and properly training your team will ensure that their safety is upheld. It will also make your business premise a safe working environment.
