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In Australia, there is legislation, regulations, Australian Standards and Codes of Practice that state the requirement that any business conducting an activity where the risk of a spill must have sufficient and appropriate spill control and response equipment in place.

Each state has its own environment protection legislation and regulators. The common thread through these various jurisdictions is the principal of duty of care. The Environmental Duty of Care states:

‘A person must not carry out any activity that causes, or is likely to cause, environmental harm unless the person takes all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise the harm’.

This means that every reasonable step to avoid the spill and prevent spill from harming the environment must be taken. If these reasonable steps are not taken it constitutes an offence against the Act.

Section 116 of the Protection of the Environment Operation Act states:

116 Leaks, spillages and other escapes

(1)If a person wilfully or negligently causes any substance to leak, spill or otherwise escape (whether or not from a container) in a manner that harms or is likely to harm the environment: (a)  the person, and (b)  if the person is not the owner of the substance, the owner are each guilty of an offence.

The various state environment protection agencies all agree that spill kits and acceptable mitigation tool and are a preferred method of containing and absorbing workplace spills.

Like environment protection legislation, the work health and safety regulations are administered by the states. These regulations have been harmonised across most states to make it easier for national companies to do business across the country.

Section 357(1) states:

provision is made in each part of the workplace where the hazardous chemical is used, handled, generated or stored for a spill containment system that contains within the workplace any part of the hazardous chemical that spills or leaks,

Section 357 (3) of the WHS regulation goes on to say:

The person must ensure that the spill containment system provides for the clean-up and disposal of a hazardous chemical that spills or leaks, and any resulting effluent.

Failure to adhere to this regulation can result in penalties of up to $6,000 for individuals and $30,000 imposed on companies.

Spill kits are an effective tool for containing and cleaning up workplace spills.

The need for spill kits is also reflected in Australian Standards.

The Australian Standard for Storage and Handling of Flammable and Combustible Liquids (AS1940:2017) was recently reviewed and now provides greater clarity on the requirements for spill kits.

Section 9.4.2 of AS1940-2017 states:

In order to deal with leaks and spills, a spill response kit shall be readily available where flammable or combustible liquids are stored, dispensed or in transit storage

The use of the word “shall” in this section indicates that a spill kit is a mandatory requirement.

Various codes of practice further reinforce the need for workplace spill kits.

Section 4.8 of Code of Practice for the Storage and Handling of Dangerous Goods states:

4.8 Spill control and clean-up

Keep equipment and materials for clean up at the premises to deal with spills or leaks, including absorbent material, neutralising or decontaminating material.

Any spills or leaks should be cleaned up immediately.

The short answer to the question of “Do I Need a Spill Kit” is yes.

Spill Station Australia designed and sold the world’s first mobile bin spill kit in 1987 and continue to be the leader in the field of spill response and control equipment. Contact a Spill Station consultant to ensure you have the correct spill kit for your application.

About the author:

Nathan Cartwright is the CEO of Spill Station Australia. He has been in the spill control industry for over 20 years and consults with Defence, Government and Industry in Australia and South East Asia regarding all facets of terrestrial spill response and control.

He sat on the ME17 committee in the most recent review of AS1940-2017 and had a leading role in the writing of the current AusSpill product quality guidelines Spill Response Kits.

Nathan is currently the deputy chair of AusSpill, the peak spill control industry association.

The spill control selector is an important part of the overall industry and a critical segment of any organisation’s environment protection strategy but remains largely unregulated. In this unregulated environment, there are 4 important questions that consumers need to ask when buying spill control equipment to ensure due diligence is being exercised.

1. Why do I need spill control equipment?

One common thread that runs through the various state environment protection legislations is the obligation for all businesses and individuals to exercise their General Environmental Duty. The Environment Protection Act 1994 defines this as,

“A person must not carry out any activity that causes, or is likely to cause, environmental harm unless the person takes all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise the harm”.

If a pollution incident occurs and the responsible company is unable to provide evidence that the General Environmental Duty has been observed, maximum penalties of up to $5 million and 7 years imprisonment are available to the courts.

2. How much spill control equipment do I need?

In section 2.3.4 (Spillage Control) of The Australian Standard AS1940-2017 for The Storage and Handling of Flammable and Combustible Liquids states that all spills and leaks shall be cleaned up immediately. Liquids should not be allowed to flow into drains or onto neighbouring land, or enter any creek, pond or waterway.

When recommending the amount of spill control equipment required, AS1940-2017 states, “Precautions should be based at least on the loss of contents of the largest container kept.”

Mobile bins are a common spill kit container but the size of the container that a spill kit is packed into does not reflect its ability to absorb a certain amount.  Always ask your spill control provider what the absorbent capacity of the spill kit is. It is important that your supplier can support these claims by providing you with a copy of maximum sorbency testing results from an accredited laboratory.

3. Is training provided?

The Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) conducted compliance audits on 52 licensed management facilities and 10 non-licensed
premises that store and handle liquid chemicals and manage spills. On a number of the audited sites it found appropriate training had not been provided. The final report identified the need for, “developing and implementing procedures to train staff in spill management and the use of
spill kits.”

As with all emergency response equipment, staff must be trained in correct deployment in the event of an incident occurring. As well as providing a thorough understanding of how to correctly use the on-site spill control equipment, the training should also make staff aware of how the legislation applies to both them and the company. This is critical as there are responsibilities and liabilities carried by both individuals and the site occupier and ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Due diligence requires spill control suppliers to include complete product training to assist with achieving best environmental outcomes.

4. How do I dispose of used absorbents?

Whenever waste is generated, it must be deposited into the correct waste stream. The type of liquids absorbed and the amount of contaminated absorbents will determine the waste stream into which the used absorbents must disposed of.

All states apart from Northern Territory provide documented waste disposal guidelines to ensure correct disposal of oil soaked waste. There are slight differences in these guidelines from state to state. The common principals shared by these guidelines are up to 100kg of oil soaked waste can be disposed of as solid or inert waste provided that there are no free liquids present.

The test method required by these guidelines to show that there are no free liquids is the USEPA Paint Filter Liquids Test – Method 9095A. Ask your spill control provider to supply you with the document that establishes that the absorbents they offer meet this requirement. If they are unable to provide this documentation, the consumer may be vulnerable to prosecution for illegal dumping of waste.

The NSWEPA issued a document entitled, “General Approval of the Immobilisation of Contaminants in Waste”. This document sets out the requirements that must be met in order for general hydrocarbons (C10-C36) to be disposed of as inert or solid waste. One of the requirements of this disposal method is that the absorbent used must be “capable of securely containing more that 100% of their own mass of such hydrocarbons.”  This means that 1kg of absorbent must be able to securely absorb 1kg of oil. Currently there is no commercially available “kitty litter” style absorbent that is able to meet this requirement. Consumers should be aware that if they dispose of oil soaked absorbents as inert or solid waste that do not meet the NSWEPA requirements that they may be liable to prosecution for illegal dumping of waste.

Regardless of what bacteria or enzyme is added to the absorbent, disposal of waste in any method other that what is stated in the guidelines is an offence.

By asking your spill control provider these 4 important questions you can feel secure in the knowledge that due diligence is being exercised and that the correct tools for effectively addressing an emergency spill incident are on hand.

Spill Station Australia can answer all of these questions for you and ensure you get the right equipment to provide your best spill management outcomes.

After more than 2 years in review the Australian Standard for the storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids has been published. At over 180 pages, this Standard has significant changes related to spill control. The following is a summary of those changes and how they will impact you in regard to provision of spill response equipment.

While many Standards are intended to provide voluntary guidance on industry practices, this particular Standard is a very significant one for Australian industry as it is called up in Australian state and territory regulations.

Whilst there are many changes, the single most significant change is the introduction of the term “Spill Response Kit” into the standard and a description of what this kit should contain.

This is first seen in Section 2.3.4. In the previous version, a typical spillage kit was described in this section 2.3.4 as,

• a metal bin with a tightly-fitting lid partially filled with non-combustible absorbent such as vermiculite;
• broom, shovel, face shield, chemically-resistant boots and gloves; and
• a suitable respirator.

The current version of the standard has introduced the term “spill response kit” and updated the description to better reflect improvements in spill kit design.

• a readily identifiable, suitable container with a lid or cover containing absorbent materials
• suitable personal protective equipment; and
• suitable equipment required for spill clean-up.

Unchanged in this section is that the spill response capacity should be based on the loss of contents of the largest container kept and the requirement for spills to be cleaned up immediately is still mandatory.

Section 9.4 of the new AS1940 goes into more detail of spill response kit contents.

The title of section 9.4 of the standard has changed its title from, “Management of Leaks and Spills” to “Management of Above-Ground Leaks and Spills”

Clause 9.4.2 of this section has also had considerable revision. Previously this section had reference to the requirement of a range of neutralising agents and sand for use in response to Class 3 liquid spills. This has been removed and replaced with,

In order to deal with leaks and spills, a spill response kit shall be readily available where flammable or combustible liquids are stored, dispensed or in transit storage

Note that a spill response kit is now a mandatory requirement for sites handling Class 3 flammable liquids.

This section goes into more detail on the contents of a typical spill response kit. It states:

A simple spill response kit should consist of some or all of absorbent pads, booms, loose absorbent and contaminated waste bags that are packed in a readily identifiable weather resistant container and are compatible with the liquids stored.

Section 8 of AS1940-2017 describes the requirements for all installations where tank vehicles are filled.

Clause 8.2.6.1(d) has been introduced. It states:

• A spill response kit shall be positioned within 15 m of the tank fill point.

There have also been changes made to Section 9.8 which covers the requirements of construction and maintenance work where Class 3 liquids are kept. Clause 9.8.1 of the new Standards states:

No construction or maintenance work shall be carried out where flammable and combustible liquids are kept, unless a hazard identification and risk assessment has been undertaken, appropriate controls are in place and with written authorization from a person designated for the purpose by the occupier of the premises.

Section 9.8.3 goes on to state:

Except for routine, non-hazardous work, any work within the restricted area shall be authorized by means of a work permit.

In AS1940-2004, no consideration was given to assessing the risk of spill prior to the commencement. The new standard has added clause 9.8.3(h). This clause states that it is now mandatory that the work permit contains a statement regarding the spill response equipment required.

If a risk of spill is identified in the work permit, section 9.8.4 now requires appropriate spill response equipment to be provided.

Spill Station Australia site auditors have been trained in the new requirements as stated in AS1940-2017. If you want to make sure that your spill response capacity complies with the new standard, contact us now to arrange your spill risk compliance audit.

Spill Station Australia

Ph: 1300 66 42 66

www.spillstation.com.au