A person must not undertake an activity that pollutes, or might pollute, the environment unless the person takes all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise any resulting environmental harm.  Environment Protection Act 1993, South Australia

Environmental legislation across Australia differs slightly between states, but all states place responsibility on the end user to protect the environment – this is often referred to as duty of care.

Prevention is nearly always easier than the cure, so to protect the environment it is critical you store and handle your liquids correctly.  Compliant storage options include floor bunding, spill pallets for drums and IBC’s, safety cabinets and relocatable stores; safer handling can mean using pumps, transfer equipment, or even our lubrication dispensing bottles.  There are Acts and Australian Standards directly related to the storage and handling of liquids which must be complied with.

Even if you do store and handle liquids correctly you must be prepared to respond to a spill (for more on spill response click here).  Do you keep spill kits or absorbents where spills are likely to occur?  Or stored in an easily accessed area?  Are your kits kept up to date and well stocked, or are they used as rubbish bins?  An empty spill kit no use to anyone in a spill event!  We recommend kits are audited on a regular basis so you can be sure you are ready to respond.

If you aren’t too sure whether your site complies with relevant environmental legislation and Australian Standards, we can perform a site audit and make recommendations.  If you are concerned your kits aren’t maintained, we can audit and restock them for you at pre-determined intervals.  And if you wonder what you should do to respond to a spill, we do have a training program for you!

Do you meet your duty of care?

This blog post is intended as a guide only, and should not be relied upon as professional and/or legal advice.  Argyle Commercial will not be held liable for any damages or losses caused by using information provided in this post as a basis for any decision where any such damages or losses may result.