We had some drama in our workshop yesterday.
Don’t worry, it’s all sorted now, but what happened was a stark reminder of the importance of containment systems.
When overhauling different engine assemblies, there’s a need for specialist deep cleaning, and we carry this out in our designated area which has various cleaning and blasting equipment.
To give you an idea of the cleaning work that needs doing, we can get cylinder heads like this:
We use a specialist company to look after this cleaning equipment, all with the aim of making sure that it’s operating effectively, and that we can ensure there are no environmental or H&S concerns.
As part of the contract, they routinely come out and this was scheduled for yesterday.
The driver turned up as usual, carried out his inspections, completed some cleaning and then went about changing the cleaning fluids.
That’s when an incident cropped up.
When loading the 50-gallon drum, it fell, the lid came off and the cleaning fluid emptied all over the road and ran down the hill into the drain.
All of a sudden, the emergency plan needed to kick in: checking the safety of the operator, containing the spill, cleaning the area, and much more.
The Environmental Agency was notified, and we had the local water authority on-site to review things and suck up the drains.
The planning we had spent time on meant there was first aid kit available to attend to the driver, spill kits to contain the spillage, drainage covers to prevent further contamination, and facilities to clean up.
You hope these things never happen, but if they do, you’ll be glad you have the right things in place to minimise the impact.
