By Travis Zdrazil
Oil spills can be really messy. And you have to act fast if you want to prevent the problem from spreading. Fortunately, there's an easy and low-cost solution to cleaning things up fast: oil sorbent pads.
Of course cleaning up oil spills is actually a two-step process, depending on how big of a spill it is. If it's just a small leak, oil sorbent pads can mop it up within minutes.
The key for making this possible is to have them handy right then and there. And that's where pads really shine! They're so cheap and handy that it is possible to have a small stash of them just about anywhere where oil is handled.
This means that it's easy to just grab one of those oil sorbent pads and soak up the errant oil before it can go anywhere. How much easier could that be.
If the spill is a bit bigger, though, you will need something else. That's when the two-step approach to cleaning up oil spill messes comes in: first, a spill must be contained and THEN it needs to be cleaned up.
If you need something to contain a spill, you'll find spill berms are just the ticket. They're handy and, depending on what kind you get, they don't take up too much space.
So if you have areas where bigger oil spills are an issue, just keep some spill berms handy, and arrange them around the spill so that the oil can't go anywhere. Only then it's time to take out the oil sorbent pads or other absorbents and mop away.
All of the above applies to spills in a facility or on land. If the spill is in a body of water, you may need oil booms instead of the spill berms, and, depending on the amount of oil, more oil booms to soak up the oil.
However, if it's a small spill on a body of water, pads can actually take care of that as well -- they're perfect for skimming oil off water.
Here's a bonus: oil sorbent pads can easily be reused. All you need is a hand wringer and you can simply wring them, collect the oil, and put them to use again -- over and over. This means, you can clean up an oil spill with just a few of those pads -- which makes them even more economical than they already are.
Of course cleaning up oil spills is actually a two-step process, depending on how big of a spill it is. If it's just a small leak, oil sorbent pads can mop it up within minutes.
The key for making this possible is to have them handy right then and there. And that's where pads really shine! They're so cheap and handy that it is possible to have a small stash of them just about anywhere where oil is handled.
This means that it's easy to just grab one of those oil sorbent pads and soak up the errant oil before it can go anywhere. How much easier could that be.
If the spill is a bit bigger, though, you will need something else. That's when the two-step approach to cleaning up oil spill messes comes in: first, a spill must be contained and THEN it needs to be cleaned up.
If you need something to contain a spill, you'll find spill berms are just the ticket. They're handy and, depending on what kind you get, they don't take up too much space.
So if you have areas where bigger oil spills are an issue, just keep some spill berms handy, and arrange them around the spill so that the oil can't go anywhere. Only then it's time to take out the oil sorbent pads or other absorbents and mop away.
All of the above applies to spills in a facility or on land. If the spill is in a body of water, you may need oil booms instead of the spill berms, and, depending on the amount of oil, more oil booms to soak up the oil.
However, if it's a small spill on a body of water, pads can actually take care of that as well -- they're perfect for skimming oil off water.
Here's a bonus: oil sorbent pads can easily be reused. All you need is a hand wringer and you can simply wring them, collect the oil, and put them to use again -- over and over. This means, you can clean up an oil spill with just a few of those pads -- which makes them even more economical than they already are.
Want to know more about oil sorbent pads? Get valuable tips and the latest news about absorbents and other environmental safety products on Travis Zdrazil's Safety Maintenance News blog and get his free newsletter too. Travis is an expert on environmental safety products and has supplied businesses with products to aid in meeting EPA and OSHA requirements for more than 10 years.
You may publish this article, but must keep the resource box ©2009 PCI Products Company. All rights reserved.
You may publish this article, but must keep the resource box ©2009 PCI Products Company. All rights reserved.
