Overview

In a hazardous-waste storage area for waste for disposal or chemical store rooms, you may find that employees transfer hazardous wastes from one container to another. Or perhaps tanks used to store hazardous wastes are pumped out prior to transporting for off site disposal. Chances are your hazardous-waste storage area was designed or modified to keep the storage of hazardous wastes away from potential discharge drains. If it has floor drains in the immediate vicinity or inside a curbed area itself, however, then a spill or release of a hazardous waste could cause damage to plumbing systems, interfere with wastewater treatment plant operations or cause fires, explosions, generation of toxic gases or other adverse chemical reactions.

As these wastes are highly likely to be classed as 'Hazardous' and/or Radioactive, special care must be taken in their storage and disposal.

Duty of Care (DoC)

DoC as well as other specific legislation must be followed. Doc stipulates that:

1. All waste materials must be stored and transferred safely and securely in suitable containers such as skips or labelled drums. The only exceptions to this would be loose material or liquid that is loaded into a suitable vehicle.
2. All waste materials must be stored safely and securely in suitable containers such as skips, Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) and drums.
3. Make sure that any containers you use are in good condition. If you are using old containers for the storage of wastes such as drums, ensure that they are properly labelled and any old labelling is removed.
4. Make sure containers such as drums and IBCs are correctly labelled.
5. When deciding how best to store waste materials, you must consider segregating materials that are incompatible such as chemicals that may react together if a leak occurs.
6. You must ensure that waste materials cannot blow away and that pollutants cannot leach from the waste into the ground. Consider storing wastes under cover while they await disposal. If wastes are stored in skips or other similar containers, ensure that were necessary they are covered or netted to prevent loose and lightweight material from escaping.
7. You must ensure that liquid wastes cannot escape into drains, watercourses or surrounding ground. Store wastes on impervious surfaces that are bunded or drained to a sealed pit capable of containing the contents of the storage containers. You must be able to effectively contain any material spilt accidentally. For further information, use the link to ‘Pollution of Surface Water and Ground Water’ below.