Chemicals and the environment

There can be no denying that chemicals are useful in our modern society. In fact, it can easily be argued that chemicals are one of the many essential building blocks for the lives that we lead today. They provide the basis for cleaning products and health care treatments. They have given us solutions to strengthen materials that we use in construction. However if they are allowed to become uncontained or released into the environment in an untreated state then this can become a major problem.

Image credit

It’s why the Health and Safety executive insist that for all businesses that handle chemicals in some way, which is all of them as it covers cleaning materials as well, there has to be clear Care of Substances Hazardous to Health guide posters up where they can be seen and read. Businesses also have to check that staff have understood the Care of Substances Hazardous to Health information and understood it. These are known by the acronym COSHH guidelines.

Image credit

One of these is the supply of Spill Kits. These are handy kits that will allow anyone on the staff that comes into a chemical spill the means to safely contain and clean up the spillage before it becomes a major hazard. These spill kits have been used to great effect in several documented industrial spill incidents. We all have a duty of care to the planet and to maintain it from harmful exposure from natural and human made chemicals to try and resist the damage they can do to it and ourselves.