7 Tips for Selecting PPE for Spill Preparedness

 Hazardous material spills happen without warning. That means you have to be prepared with the proper PPE to protect your cleanup crew.

Chemical spills won't wait for you to locate and purchase appropriate PPE for your responders. Not having the right PPE on hand can mean employees "make do" with whatever is around—and that could well mean that they won't be properly protected.
Here are 7 tips for selecting PPE for spill preparedness:
1.   Don't go overboard. Some employers tend to buy the highest level protection available for everything instead of doing the research to be more precise in PPE choices. While it would mean you would have the correct protection level for all manner of spills, this approach is a very expensive way to provide adequate protection.
2.   Gather the information. To make proper PPE selection for spill cleanup, you need to know which chemicals you have on-site, how they are used and handled, where and how they are stored, and in what form they are stored (powder, liquid, etc.)
3.   Decide which spills your facility will handle. While all spills must be cleaned up, this doesn't always have to be done by your employees. After evaluating chemicals in your facility, you may decide to have an outside hazardous materials cleanup contractor handle spills. Or you might decide your employees will clean up certain materials, and a contractor will handle all the others. Whichever course you choose, make sure it's clearly communicated to workers so that they know their roles in the event of a spill.

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4.   Select your PPE. Choose PPE to provide protection for the most hazardous of spills your employees will handle. You can usually choose PPE made from material that could be used in many different situations. However, take care to ensure that in all potential spill scenarios, the PPE material is compatible with the spilled chemicals. If not, you'll need to have more than one type of PPE.
5.   Assess what you have on hand. Chances are you already have some or all of the PPE you need for spills on-site because employees wear it as a part of their regular work. In that case, you don't need to purchase separate PPE for spill cleanup. Simply make sure that those involved in spill cleanup know exactly which PPE they should use and where to find it.
6.   Don't forget size. Gloves, jumpsuits, and other PPE come in different sizes. Don't buy size "medium" for everything. For jumpsuits and other garments, bigger is better. Garments can be fitted using duct tape if they are too large. If they are too small, they'll be of no use and risk employee exposure if strained seams fail. Gloves are fairly inexpensive, and keeping multiple sizes on hand generally won't cost much.
7.   Take into account the number of responders. Having one set of PPE when spills require two or more people to properly accomplish the cleanup won't get the job done safely. Be sure you have complete sets for all those you would expect to be involved in a cleanup.

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