DETROIT – Cans, bottles, tanks, and drums are all designed to keep liquids contained and safe. Yet, when one of these shells fails, the mess can be anything from an insignificant nuisance to a major disaster. Luckily, secondary containment solutions buy time, facilitate liquid recycling, and prevent catastrophic harm.
Instead of chasing and confining a liquid spill, secondary containment solutions create a pre-determined area to capture and hold spilled liquids. In addition, even though numerous environmental regulatory bodies demand facilities to identify spill hazards and take active measures to prevent them from being discharged into the environment, secondary containment solutions can be more than just a pollution prevention measure. They can certainly be valuable in housekeeping and safety protocols that minimize cleaning time and prevent slip and fall injuries.
Even though there are requirements for secondary containment solutions to be sufficiently sized, the methods for providing secondary containment are not strictly specified. This allows facility owners and managers to use whatever solution is best for their situation, so selecting the proper secondary containment system can be challenging.
Photo from The Fabricator
So, where should you begin? Identifying each designated location where all types of liquids, both used and new are stored, is the initial step in determining where secondary containment may be helpful in your facility. For that reason, facility preparedness plans may provide additional information as to where you may need adequate oil containment solutions on your site and where you may need basic 55-gallon drums for other types of liquids.
Once you identify the designated areas in your facility where the liquids are stored, it’s time to focus on finding the best secondary containment solution for each one.
Bulk Fluid Loading And Offloading Locations
By rail, road, or vessel, bulk liquid transfers deliver vast volumes of liquids to facilities. And even if the receiving containers and tanks are in top shape and the delivery truck is intact, valves and hoses can sometimes fail and create unwanted liquid spills.
To address this, numerous bulk fluid loading and offloading areas in facilities are paved and sloped toward a drain. In these locations, diking or berming the area near the lowest point and covering the drain with a drain cover is a simple way to provide liquid containment. Another solution is to set up a drive-in secondary containment for the truck and the hosing.
Photo from CHEmanager
Container Storage And Waste Collection Areas
Central waste accumulation and satellite accumulation areas are two areas that can be prone to dribbles and leaks when fluids are being transferred from one container to another. One solution to these problems is the so-called spill decks that can keep these nuisances from getting into pathways and creating a slip hazard or entering nearby floor drains. Spill decks are also an excellent choice for promoting good housekeeping in fluid dispensing areas.
For more prominent waste accumulation locations where totes, drums, and other containers are stored until they can be disposed of or recycled, secondary containment pallets can be used to keep the incompatible fluids segregated and more significant spills in check.
Production Areas
Suppose you want to keep the production areas of your facility cleaner and safer. In that case, you should go with flexible secondary containment berms around equipment filled with coolants or oil to prevent them from leaking into walkways and causing damage. Containment berms can also help facilitate your fluid recycling efforts since bermed areas are easier to pump or vacuum to recover the leaked fluids.
Outdoor Storage Positions
As you probably know, all materials stored outdoors are way more susceptible to external elements and conditions. This makes these materials more prone to UV damage and corrosion that can break down their containers and cause them to fail.
For that reason, creating secondary containment for all outdoor storage positions is very important and can include cement pads and curbing to designate or enclose the area, and canopies, tarps, or storage shields to shield the stored liquids. For temporary storage positions, containment pads or earthen berms can also be a viable solution.
Tanks
Many of the tanks come double-walled in today’s market, so they provide their own secondary containment. If you have smaller tanks that are nod double-walled from production, or if you want to add more security to your existing tanks, you can place each tank in a large tub to provide tertiary or secondary containment.
Final Words
Each secondary containment system’s main goal is to isolate hazardous fluids and liquids so that eventual splashes or leakages can be effectively handled in certain situations. Locate the areas of your facility where you need fluid coverage, and employ secondary containment solutions to keep your site safe.
Bio: Paul Williamson is a writer and marketing manager who helps companies develop quality content around a wide range of topics. He aims to create content that provides educational and helpful information to the readers.
