subject: Manage Hazardous Material Spills The Right Way! [print this page] Whenever there is a traffic incident, the safety of responders, victims of the incident, motorists, and the environment from the hazardous material spilt has to be the pressing concern. But why is traffic incident management and managing hazardous material spills so important? Its simply because, by properly managing hazardous material spills, you will not only improve the safety of the responding personnel, but also minimize the possibilities of a secondary crash!
So as a responder what should you do as soon as you come across a traffic incident? You should first begin assessing the field conditions so as to determine what kind of actions would be required. It is also absolutely essential that you check the incident location for the presence of any potentially harmful materials. Do you think just identifying is sufficient? Definitely no! Once you identify that there is an oil spill or any other hazardous spill, you should immediately look at the alleviation measures to remove the possible threat. You might come across anything from vehicle fluids to cargo contents that are being transported.
The key to successfully remove a hazardous spill is to acquire adequate knowledge about the safety, clean-up, and disposal guidelines. Knowing these guidelines would help eradicate the threat effectively. But, beware of any water sources that may be nearby the area of incidence. Responders should also make a note of the vehicle type or the labeling as they would help the personnel to determine the amount and type of the material spill. In case its a cargo oil spill, then the responders can make use of the hazardous material placards to assess the incident.
Larger oil spills or engine fluids are exempted by few states, provided the oil spill has been contained on the pavement. For effective oil spill cleanup, responders can resort to environmental friendly solutions, such as Oil Gone Easy S-200. Oil Gone Easy S-200 acts as a bioremediation accelerator and an agglomerator, which bonds to oil and breaks it into water and carbon dioxide.
