How to safely handle chemicals?

Keeping your workers safe inside your facility should always be your number one priority, especially when it comes to dealing with chemical products. We all know that these products have to be handled and stored cautiously. Therefore, if you want your employees to work in good and safe conditions, here are a few tips that may be of some use to you:

First of all it is important that all your personnel wear the proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment); glasses, gloves, protective helmets, masks, and so on. Some chemicals can be toxic or corrosive, it is thus compulsory for your workers to be protected from the potential dangers related to their handling, not only from a safety point of view but also from a legislative point of view.

Never skip on the training. You have to teach your employees how to react in case of emergency, what kind of action should be taken in case of spill, or if a product or a part of the facility catches fire. Indeed, chemical incidents can happen very fast and it is necessary to be able to react quickly in order to prevent the situation from getting worse. This article (http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2017-03-18/leisure-centre-staff-created-gas-cloud-as-they-tried-to-mix-chlorine/) tells us how a gas cloud was created after two chemicals were mixed together in a swimming pool. Thankfully the employees were able to take the right decision, and immediately evacuated and closed the leisure center. This goes to show us how important it is for the personnel to be aware of the measures that have to be taken in case of emergency.

Also, make sure that all your chemical products are properly labelled so that your employees get all the information needed when they are handling them. A label usually specifies the name of the product, the risks and the safety measures linked to its use, as well as the name and contact details of the manufacturer. This information will allow your workers to quickly understand what type of product they are dealing with, which will help them handle them the proper way.

We could not end this post without talking about the fact that all chemicals cannot and should not be stored together. They all have their special features; this is why an explosive product should never be kept in the same place as a flammable product. There is no need to be a scientist to know what kind of reaction would occur if these two products were to come into contact. Moreover, some chemicals have to be kept in specific conditions; in a cold or in a well-ventilated place, and so on… Make sure you are abreast with such requirements so that the security in your workplace is optimal. Also, if you know your facility does not own the infrastructure necessary to the storage of chemicals, you can hire the services of specialized companies such as Barnastock (http://www.barnastock.com/en) which warehouses were designed in order to safely store all types of chemical products.