Project: Does your site meet safety standards?

How do you know if your site meets safety standards?

We received a call from a business who supplies Wholesale, Retail and Distribution Centres with oil and lubricant for automotive, heavy machinery and commercial vehicles. They initially contacted us looking for advice on how to manage a relocation and set up of a larger warehouse.

Inspecting the existing warehouse, it was a typical set up resembling a distribution centre with high forklift traffic with the storage of bulk liquid greases, oils and fuels. But it became apparent very quickly that they hadn’t made provisions for any accidental spills as they were storing drums of oils and lubricants on racks. When storing hazardous liquids, the absence of bunding to contain a spill is a breach of the Australian Standard. It attracts hefty fines of up to $1 million for a corporation, $250,000 for a person, or up to 7 years imprisonment for a tier 1 offence.

Before addressing the warehouse relocation, it was critical to mitigate the risks of the existing site. An action plan was immediately set in place for the installation of primary containment, comprising of oil and lubricant drums stored on drum containment pallets. These are reusable containers engineered for the mass handling, transport and storage of hazardous liquids.

As the client was going to be moving this stock, the handling risk was extremely high and it was crucial to have secondary containment measures in place. Here we placed a temporary floor bund around the high-risk loading area.

Once these measures were put in place, we were able to help with the set-up of their new warehouse. We installed a permanent floor perimeter bund which is sealed against the floor and bolted in place. They were able to use the existing primary containment pallets from their first warehouse in the new one.

How do you know if your site meets safety standards? Sometimes it’s as simple as having a fresh set of eyes that can help identify potential risks to the environment and worker safety. Feel free to contact us for an obligation free site assessment.