Workplace accidents involving spilled gasoline, diesel, waste oil, engine fluids, and other potentially explosive fuels can put your employees, products, and workplace at risk.
For bigger spills, the best response is to call 911 and have the local fire department handle the situation. But for smaller spills, it may be possible to control the spread of spilled fuels until help arrives, or even clean them up yourself.
Potential for Damage
Petroleum-based fuels are mixtures of toxic chemicals that are not only flammable but also can produce dangerous fumes, poison drinking water wells, and kill fish and other aquatic life if it makes its way into rivers, ponds, and lakes. In larger spills, the local Pollution Control Agency may need to be notified.
Gasoline also is especially at risk of becoming ignited if it is near traffic, buildings, or sewers. When gasoline gets into a sanitary sewer, the risk of explosion is higher. Large amounts of spilled gas can threaten the local wastewater treatment plant’s ability to treat sewage.
Petroleum is composed of a number of different chemicals, many of which will evaporate quickly. That’s what makes gasoline so flammable and why it will evaporate so quickly when spilled on warm pavement.
Some chemicals in petroleum-based fuels are highly toxic. But the chemicals in petroleum that don’t evaporate quickly typically are biodegradable, which means they can be consumed by bacteria and other microbes found naturally in the soil and air. When petroleum is diluted and adequately ventilated, cleanup and disposal of smaller spills is easier.
Controlling Petroleum Spills
The first step to controlling a small petroleum spill is stopping more fuel from spilling — as long as it can be done safely. Turn off nozzles or valves from the container that is leaking. If a tank or reservoir has been punctured, try plugging it with putty, wooden plugs, bands, bolts, or other materials.
In small spills, if the leak cannot be shut down, try to catch the spilling liquid using a pan, pail, bucket, hubcap, or whatever vessels are at hand. Petroleum that is spilled onto pavement can be soaked up using sorbent materials such as kitty litter, sand, sawdust, chips, or even dirt from the shoulder of the road. For docks and warehouses, there are synthetic sorbent pads you can use to soak up spilled fuel.
Once the leak has been stopped and the spilled fuel collected, collect the contaminated sorbent using a broom and carefully place it into garbage cans, buckets, or on top of plastic sheeting. Make sure there are no potential ignition sources nearby. The disposal of the contaminated sorbent is the company’s responsibility.
Fresh granular sorbent materials, such as sand or sawdust, can then be spread onto the spill surface to prevent slips and falls.
Federal law requires that spills of more than five gallons of petroleum products be reported to authorities.