Spill Kit Contents List and Requirements

If liquid spills at your job present a health hazard, environmental hazard, or might cause a slip and fall injury, you need an emergency spill kit. This includes restaurants, or catering kitchens, auto repair shops, manufacturing floors, warehouses, schools, and healthcare facilities. Spill kits are essential to prevent falls and limit exposure to hazardous wastes and body fluids at worksites.

What Is a Spill Kit?

If you aren’t familiar with spill kits, you probably work at a site that isn’t required to follow guidelines issued by your state’s or the federal government’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Still, it’s a good idea to have an emergency spill kit at any workplace. A good spill kit quickly and safely cleans up liquid spills for easy disposal. The best ones clean up oils, chemicals, and body fluids, as well as harmless liquids like water and beverages.

What Do Spill kit Contents Include?

Spill kit contents always include the following:

• Protective clothing or personal protective equipment to protect body parts most likely to be exposed to spilled hazardous substances: hazmat suits, hard hats, gloves, safety goggles, and shoe covers.
• Tools that clean up a spill like highly absorbent towels or pads, kitty litter, or absorbent powders.

In addition to protective clothing and clean up tools, a standard spill kit checklist should also include:

• Receptacles to collect waste from the spill such as clumps from the absorbent and soaked pads.
• Disposable plastic bags with ties.
• Polypropylene broom to push around absorbent powders.
• Dustbin.

Why You Need an Emergency Spill Kit?

Why do we say it’s a good idea to have an emergency spill kit? Because liquid spill accidents happen anywhere. Here are some examples where spill kits and spill kit contents can be a huge help:

• Floods are becoming a seasonal norm in some parts of the country, threatening and damaging homes and businesses.
• Aging infrastructures mean sewers might overflow during heavy rains.
• Plumbing can give out at home or at work, causing leaks or overflows.
• People go to work and school sick enough to vomit.

We offer two kinds of spill kits for emergencies: one for everyday home and workshop spills and one for industrial use. Both include safety glasses, disposable gloves, heavy-duty trash bags, and different types of SpillFix absorbents.

Oil Spill Kit Contents

Let’s not forget hobbies like car restoration or DIY activities like flushing a car’s coolant system, painting, and minor plumbing repairs. All of these can cause at least minor but slippery spills because chances are high that oil or grease is involved. A little bit of spilled oil, gasoline, coolant, or even water uses up a surprising amount of rags and old towels, which almost always leave behind residue. An oil spill kit needs an absorbent that’s strong enough to absorb the spill and eliminate residue.  SpillFix is a solution that has gained higher marks from customers for easy, faster clean up without any oil or grease left behind.

OSHA Spill Kit Requirements

The Federal OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) doesn’t list specific requirements for spill kits. Instead, it instructs worksites to have industry-standard safety and health programs in place for treating, storing, and disposing of hazardous waste, including liquid spills.  Training personnel to handle and control hazardous waste is a key part of OSHA guidance. Workers who provide spill control and containment must have appropriate protective clothing and must be trained to use spill control equipment.  OSHA notes that states, cities, and counties may have their own specific hazardous waste cleanup businesses should follow. Do you have questions about spill containment and cleanup, including distribution opportunities? Contact us at +1 (919) 371-5847.