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Should Washaways Be A Thing Of The Past?
It was with interest this morning that I observed a CFA brigade attend a wash away in a supermarket car park.
What was of particular interest was observing them use absorbant material, sweep it around and then proceed to wash it away- down a storm water drain.
With increased focus on businesses to clean up their game in terms of how they handle product spills and disposal of contaminated material, should FD's do away with the wash away?
Most absorbant material can now be swept and removed from the roadway for collection/disposal. Washing it down the drain simply moves the problem from one area (car park in this instance) to another area, potentially increasing the pollution as oppossed to fixing a problem.
On a side note, what PPE requirements does your department have in palce for this call?
What about scene control issues?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Milk down the drain? All my training tells me this is one of the worst things you can do with milk because of all the live cultures, etc in it....
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Stoddard on
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We put down absorbent material, but down hose it away. It is swept up by the wrecker service(as far as car accidents go) and they dispose of it in the proper manner.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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It seems that there are a few places that spread out the kitty-litter, and leave it for another organisation to scoop up? As we do? Oh we also request that the Council (or Vicroads, the State roads organisation) need to come out and put up 'oil on road' signs. If it's a large spill (of whatever) we make the scene safe until the police arrive and then leave the whole thing to them and go home.
As I said earlier, about the only thing we truly 'wash away' is red stuff.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Salinger on
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As a road rescue brigade if we go to a smash that has oil or petrol spilt that is causing a hazard to us working then we spread absorbent material to make it safe for ourselves. If we get called for a wash away we wash it away. Most times the ammount spilt is under 10 litres of oil and under 100 litres of fuel. And around here all the road sides are grass or dirt
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Most times the ammount spilt is under 10 litres of oil and under 100 litres of fuel. And around here all the road sides are grass or dirt
So to be the devil's advocate and to promote some discussion here, why is it OK for your brigade to wash 100 litres into the dirt or down the drain but not an industrial corporation?
We're not above the law. The product we push down there is just as harful as the product they push down there...
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Permalink Reply by Troos Jacobs on
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I agree 100% with your statement pollution is pollution and we must be an example how not to do it. However different standards are used but municipalities and fire chiefs most of the time they want to please the one above them and do the wrong thing by wash it away. In 34 years I saw things that will shock the world so rather keep it for myself and hope they will not get caught with their pants down.
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I'm not sure why its ok but thats what happens out here. It's the only way that iv seen it done.
No it not good that its going into the enviroment but most times its the police or council that call us out to remove the mess from the road, and its nearly always on a main high way so it's important to have it cleared and safe quickly. Washing down is generally fastest.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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We do not do washdowns. We spread the oil dry(absorbant) and then leave it in place. However, we do sweep up debris from the vehicles involved in the traffic accident.
As far as PPE, our SOP's are that you wear full PPE(except SCBA).
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