Handling pollutants the responsible way
Air, soil and water pollution have been referred to as the ‘silent global pandemic’. It is impossible to properly quantify or qualify the damage caused when toxins are inhaled or absorbed by humans, but it is an increasing danger.
This means that business pollution prevention should be a high priority for organisations of all types and sizes. Your company could be inadvertently missing out on some of the most fundamental environmental protection steps.
It’s easy to link this issue to factories and chemical and engineering plants, for instance. However, even small professional and service sector firms have a role to play in pollution avoidance. This is because we all use substances and items that need to be properly disposed of, to ensure that they don’t add toxicity to the soil, air or water table.
The government provides insights on pollution prevention for businesses. These are especially aimed at those that use substances such as oils, pesticides, biocides, herbicides and other chemicals, solvents and potential air pollution hazards.
However, to illustrate the universal need for pollution prevention, think about how much detergent leaks away from commercial car washes or fleet maintenance areas, and how much trade effluent passes into the environment from food and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
There is the potential for toxic substances to leak from chemical and fuel storage facilities within horticultural and agricultural enterprises, and many companies with large fleets or significant numbers of off-road vehicles also keep fuel handy on their premises.
Even an office building that stores strong cleaning products can fail in its green strategy if those hazardous substance containers are faulty, or added to normal waste systems after use.
This article is a quick guide to how all organisations can take cost-effective steps to become more environmentally friendly, by careful disposal of potentially harmful substances in workplaces.
What substances are the biggest concern?
There are some potential pollutants that require particular focus and management, to ensure that you’re not responsible for creating an exposure risk to employees, visitors or the wider community.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) publishes a list of air pollutants of concern that includes carbon monoxide, lead and heavy metals, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and Volatile Organic Compounds, Toxic Organic Micropollutants (TOMPS) and benzene.
According to the Clean Air Fund, approximately 1.2 billion workdays are lost each year worldwide due to the impact of air pollution. It is estimated that this will reach 3.8 billion days by 2060.
If you want more evidence of the scale of the problem, soil is required for 90% of European food, feed, fibre and fuel production. Yet it is continually being polluted or drained of its nutrients. The European Environmental Agency reports that: “Around 2.8 million contaminated sites are found in Europe. Industrial activities and waste disposal are primary sources of contamination.”
You may think of polluted waterways and seas in the UK in terms of the use of fertiliser and pesticides in agriculture (responsible for 40% of water pollution in England) and the escape of untreated sewage (35%). However, pollutants such as oil that ‘run off’ into the water table are also a serious issue.
The solution to this alarming set of pollution statistics is for every business to invest more heavily in local and site-specific pollution reduction strategies.
Legislative framework
There is now a wide range of legislation designed to control the way that hazardous and non-hazardous materials are dealt with, as part of waste management strategies. This includes the Environment Act 2021 and the Waste Regulations 2011, which demand that businesses separate recyclable materials such as paper, plastic, and glass. Other examples include the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.
With so much legal guidance to draw upon, you would imagine that proper disposal of waste is becoming more embedded. Evidence to the contrary includes a £41,310 fine imposed on an organic liquid waste recycling company in Wales that breached environmental permit conditions by spreading waste in a ‘no spread zone’, creating potential pollution to surface and groundwater.
This is an example not only of how even the initiated can ‘slip up’, but also how hefty the financial penalties can be for non-compliance to pollution prevention legislation.
Storage and spill risk management
The fundamental task to reduce the amount of pollution you cause from substance disposal involves doing a thorough risk assessment of all the hazardous materials you have within your premises. Then, you need a programme of checks and measures to manage how they are stored, handled, used and replaced.
Are your COSHH compliance policies and procedures up to date, and are your staff confident and competent in handling hazardous substances?
Under this legislation, there are strict guidelines on how potentially harmful liquids should be stored ready for use, making it vital to find a reliable supplier of COSHH storage solutions.
This can demand that you invest in proper manual lifting and handling equipment – such as compliant ladders, steps and trolleys – to minimise the risk of spills when hazardous substances are being put into or removed from storage or transported around your premises.
However, remaining compliant also involves knowing exactly what to do if a toxic substance is spilt, splashed or leaked onto an internal or external surface.
From hospitals and laboratories to major chemical producers, spill management solutions should be high on a list of safety product ‘must-haves’. This may involve a spill response kit and cabinet, stocked with absorbent granules and other specialist products to cope with hazardous liquid escapes.
Pollution management information and equipment
Spill response products and awareness are just part of the story when it comes to strategically placing pollution prevention information and equipment around your workplace.
Ensuring that your team has access to other forms of specialist cleaning equipment can reduce the risk of pollutants escaping into the environment, and also improve response times and a quick return to normal.
One of the most innovative ways to keep cleaning tools handy in workplaces is shadow boards. Brushes, mops, cleaning fluids and information can be carefully displayed in a way that saves space and encourages proper maintenance of cleaning equipment to prolong its life. PPE can also be dispensed via shadow board storage systems, reducing the risk of harm for staff who may face hazardous substance exposure.
Also, don’t overlook your drainage system, and the way that you ensure that chemicals and other substances don’t end up in your site run-off.
Environmentally sound waste disposal
Custom-designed shadow boards could also be created to help staff become more aware – and more efficient – when segregating different kinds of waste materials. This could include litter-picking tools for workplaces, and PPE to handle broken glass and other hazards.
All staff should be trained in how to adhere to a clear policy of waste disposal, to avoid pollution risks.
Value-for-money waste management tools include well-engineered bags, bins and other receptacles to hold segregated materials. Regardless of the system you use, it is also possible to buy customisable signs featuring the WRAP ‘Recycle Now’ logo to support proper waste classification.
Another key part of your commitment to pollution prevention and correct handling of hazardous substances should be engaging the services of a credible waste removal company, with the relevant skills and knowledge for your sector. If they don’t do their job properly, your organisation could also be held accountable.
Engage all staff in pollution control
The ability of your organisation to handle chemicals and other potential pollutants safely and responsibility comes down to more than regular risk assessments and clear policies. Every member of your team needs to be aware of their role in preventing environmental hazards of all kinds.
This requires on-boarding training, and also regular updates on how employees can contribute to pollution prevention.
A series of customised safety signs placed strategically in high-risk areas can also remind your team of their obligations. You can also post reporting tools and information using the latest workplace display systems.
What happens if a breach of your protocols on pollution prevention does occur? Managers must know pollution reporting guidelines, and be able to show that robust steps were taken to prevent this incident – and to create a fast, safe clean-up of chemical spills, for example.
Finally, a thorough examination of the incident report is imperative to find even more ways to keep your organisation’s pollution prevention strategy ‘airtight’.