Monday, February 2, 2015

Secondary Containment Systems Protect You Just A Little More

By Karyn Shields


Most things that we enjoy require the use of substances that may be dangerous if leaked into the surrounding land. Too many news stories are about a truck leaking oil or some chemical onto the road while being transported. This can make the road dangerous and also damage the environment along the side of it. If properly installed, secondary containment systems will provide a better chance of it not getting out there at all.

There are many different substances that must be contained so they do not harm people or the environment. No containment will work in a universal way. Determine what material should be used for this system as lives can depend on it and, certainly, the cleanliness of the areas is. The manufacturers who build these units do the testing and work hard to make sure they are safe for use.

A good example of this principle would be the daily trash being taken out of your home. You have a plastic trash bag, in the container, and all trash is placed here, as it is generated. As you begin to remove this large bag from that container, you place it inside of another trash liner. This is done to prevent the primary bag from leaking or tearing and letting anything escape. This is a secondary containment bag and it works great because you do not get trash on the floor while moving to the outside can.

It was an easy choice about that containerization. When looking at industrial and transportation systems, it gets more complicated. Decisions, in these areas, require looking into flexible or rigid construction. There is also the consideration about temporary versus permanent installation.

A couple of these substances you hear about all of the time are the transport of gasoline and oil by truck or rail. The rigid primary tank for the transport for either one of these can tear or become punctured for many reasons, not the least common of which would be an accident. This has caused many gallons or barrels of environmentally unsafe material to be spilled out and endanger others due to the chance of fire or other accidents happening around them.

The bladders that are installed for the protection of people standing around and the road as well as the environment will contain any leakage. This bladder will also have another valve for evacuating the liquid inside it. This makes it easy to complete the delivery, although there may still be some clean up, on the truck. The EPA does not need to be called in and massive reports, clean up and certified inspections will not have to be completed.

The rigid fabrications can be illustrated with retaining walls that are erected around a pallet holding large tank of chemicals. This will ensure that any leaks that occur, for whatever reason, will not get past this cement barrier to contaminate any other areas or people. In some industries and for smaller containers, this might simply be a curb that will still see chemicals not escaping this small space. There will be a small amount of cleaning and decontamination, but not the same as if there were no barriers.

If these substances, that are required by EPA and FDA, are not contained and allowed to spill into areas with people working, specific clean ups must be undertaken. The cleaning, decontamination and all of the inspections are mandated to be completed before the area can be used, again. By ensuring the spill does not happen, all of the major cleaning does not, either.




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