Guidance Sheet 4: Chemical Spill Management The purpose of this Guidance sheet is to provide information on how to prevent chemical spills and/or manage and respond to spills in the event that they do occur. Appropriate spill containment procedures and equipment must be implemented to control or reduce the risk from any spill or leak of any chemical in your workplace. All spills should be cleaned up immediately. The cause of the spill should be investigated and appropriate measures implemented to prevent any recurrence. Spill Prevention Spills can be prevented in the workplace by: Ensuring appropriate chemical containers are used with seals that are in good condition (i.e. glass containers for corrosive chemicals). It is prohibited to use drink or food containers (new or discarded) to store chemicals. Ensuring all chemicals are stored appropriately. This may include: provision of locked cupboards and storage areas; provision of drip trays or purpose built chemical storage cupboards/cabinets with inbuilt spill retention; and storage of chemicals in their respective Dangerous Goods Classes taking into account incompatibilities within a class. Refer to for more detailed information. Ensuring appropriate equipment and procedures are in place for decanting chemicals. This may include: provision of automated dispensing units provision of appropriate equipment for decanting chemicals (i.e. easy pour funnels, trays, containers etc.) provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves, goggles, coats/aprons etc., and development of local Safe Work Procedures (SWP) or instructions on how chemicals are decanted safely and how spills are cleaned up ensuring employees, students, volunteer workers or contractors have appropriate training in safe chemical handling/SWP. Spill Management Be prepared to respond to a spill by: chemical spill response kit readily available keeping the spill kit fully stocked and regularly maintained predetermining spill procedures and training relevant employees accordingly ensuring appropriate PPE is provided and used knowing the location and proper use of clean-up material knowing how to turn equipment and energy sources off (i.e. air conditioning, gas, electricity etc.) maintaining and reviewing the relevant Safety Data Sheets
(SDS) to ensure appropriate risk controls are in place. SDS must be no more than five years old from date of issue, and developing and maintaining chemical SWP. Spill Kits Spill kits should be provided and be readily accessible in relevant locations at the workplace. Commercially available spill kits can be purchased or the workplace can create their own. It is important that spill kits are tailored to meet the specific needs of each location where chemicals are stored. A good spill kit should include the following items: Absorbents: Universal Spill Absorbent: 1:1:1 mixture of Flor-Dri (or unscented kitty litter), sodium bicarbonate and sand. This all-purpose absorbent is good for most chemical spills including solvents, bases and acids (with the exception of hydrofluoric acid) Absorbent pads and rolls: ‘HazMat’ absorbent pads Acid Spill Neutraliser: sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate or calcium carbonate Alkali (Base) Neutraliser: sodium bisulphate, boric acid or oxalic acid Solvents/Organic Liquid Absorbent: Inert absorbents such as vermiculite, clay, sand Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Hand protection: chemical resistant safety gloves (i.e. disposable neoprene or nitrile gloves) Eye protection: Safety goggles Body protection: Laboratory coat /Corrosive apron Foot protection: Enclosed footwear, shoe covers Respiratory protection: Dust mask/Respirator (All personnel must be properly fit tested before using a respirator) Clean Up Material Brooms, plastic dustpan and square mouth shovel to sweep up the absorbent material Paper towels for minor spills Plastic tongs/ scoops to pick up contaminated absorbent material A chemical resistant bin (i.e. wheelie bin) with a close fitting lid to hold the volume of spill and absorbent residues prior to disposal Heavy duty plastic bags for wrapping contaminated PPE