Creating a Safer Worksite: Spill Management for Construction Zones

Working on a construction site often requires workers to move quickly and meet tight deadlines. It also involves using a wide range of materials, both solids and liquids. This combination means spills are prevalent on construction sites, but unfortunately, they can be highly dangerous.

Prioritizing spill management for construction zones helps keep workers and passersby safe and prevents expensive liability claims. Learn how to manage spills with absorbent mats and other solutions. 

The Three Elements of Spill Management

Adequate spill management for construction zones involves three important elements:

• Spill prevention: Adopting safety protocols to prevent spills from happening in the first place
• Spill containment: Planning the best response to contain spills as quickly as possible before they cause injury or illness
• Spill response: Thoroughly cleaning up spilled materials and sanitizing contaminated equipment and supplies

These three steps aren’t just recommended for construction sites; OSHA requires them. The Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response standard requires employers to create written safety and health protocols for handling spills involving hazardous materials. 

Tips for Preventing Spills

Preventing spills is crucial to spill management for construction zones. By adopting the right practices, your construction zone can avoid the consequences of spills altogether. 

These tips are an excellent starting point to prevent hazardous spills:

• Seek regular risk assessments to understand your construction company’s risk of serious spills and your adherence to environmental compliance measures
• Use appropriate storage containers designed for your specific chemicals
• Create protocols for storing and handling chemicals and ensure that all employees adhere to them
• Inspect and update equipment regularly, especially machinery that uses hazardous materials
• Train employees in-depth on spill prevention and response

Strategies for Containing and Responding to Spills 

While spill prevention strategies can minimize the number of spills in your construction zone, they likely won’t eliminate them. You and your workers also need to implement strategies for containment and understand how to respond promptly and effectively. 

Implementing absorbent mats throughout your construction zone is an easy yet highly effective way to contain spills. These mats absorb a large amount of liquid quickly. 

For example, you can find oil-absorbing “rag rugs“ that absorb up to 55 gallons of oil, water, and solvent-based liquids. Placing these rugs throughout your construction zone can give you more time to respond to spills before the spilled materials spread to equipment or people. 

Your employees should have fast access to the materials they need to mitigate and respond to spills. Keeping a spill response kit at the ready and training employees regularly can ensure a prompt response. 

Purchase Industry-Leading Spill Mats From SupAbsorb Tech Today 

Are you ready to prioritize spill management for construction zones? SupAbsorb Tech offers a premium selection of extremely absorbent spill mats. Our products:

• Minimize hazards from oil, water, and chemical spills
• Are durable under heavy equipment
• Prevent slip-and-fall hazards due to spills
• Capture dust and liquids tracked by workers

Explore our inventory today, or contact us at (732) 390-5970 for more information.