Are Oil Spills a Safety Hazard for Workers?

If your business produces, uses or stores oils, you might be wondering whether oil spills are a safety hazard for workers. Accidents can happen in the workplace. Maybe you accidentally drop a container filled with oil, or perhaps an oil-filled machine springs a leak. While oil spills such as these may seem minor, they can pose a serious safety hazard for workers.

Slip and Fall Injuries

Oil spills can lead to slip-and-fall injuries. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 27% of all nonfatal injuries that require workers to take time off involve slips, trips and falls. Oil spills will increase the risk of slip-and-fall injuries.

As you may know, oil is slippery. This is essentially what makes it an excellent lubricant. Because oil is slippery, though, it poses a risk of slip-and-fall injuries to workers. Workers may slip on an oil spill, and assuming they are unable to catch their balance, fall and injure themselves.

Skin Irritation

Even if a worker doesn't slip and fall on an oil spill, he or she may experience skin irritation when attempting to clean it up. There are different types of oil, such as natural and synthetic. Regardless of the type, all oil contains chemicals that may cause skin irritation.

Workers who touch spilled oil with their bare hands may experience skin irritation. Contact dermatitis is a concern when touching oil. Workers can still clean spilled oil, but they should use the proper personal protection equipment (PPE). Directly touching oil is never a good idea because of the potential for skin irritation.

How to Maintain a Safe Workplace

As you can see, oil spills are a safety hazard for workers. They can lead to slip-and-fall injuries and skin irritation. And while you can't always prevent oil spills from occurring, you can maintain a safe workplace.

When an oil spill occurs, block off the area so that workers don't accidentally walk on it. You should also clean the spilled oil as soon as possible. Leaving it on the floors will only increase the risk of injury to workers.

Make sure workers are given the appropriate PPE to clean up spilled oil. As previously mentioned, they shouldn't touch it. Most oil spills will require special protective clothing, as well as gloves, to clean up. You should provide workers with this PPE so that they can safely clean up the spilled oil.