Oil Spills

Dealing With Oil Spills

A Structured Start

Fuel oil spills can be very troublesome and its easy to initially
underestimate the significance of the oil spill incident. Careful assessment of the oil spill is important to estimate the amount of oil that has spilled or leaked.

As an accredited Environment Agency “Oil Spill Responder” we use a risk based model to identify the likely path of the oil spill and the receptors that the oil spill may come into contact with.

Once this process is complete, we can compile a report identifying what actions are required to effectively deal with the resultant oil spill contamination.

Preventing secondary damage

Oil spills can cause a very damaging situation. Of course there are environmental risks to the fauna and flora, which comes into contact with the oil spill. There are also many risks to your property and your health from an oil spill.

Home

Oil attacks the plastic which is used to make water pipes and
the damp proof course of your property. Therefore it is important to act quickly if you suspect an oil spill.

We have seen situations following an oil spill where homes have to be partially demolished because the damp proof course has been too severely damaged. It is recommended that you check your oil tank regularly to ensure that there is no leaking oil.

If you suspect a leak, we can use a chemical “sniffer” called a PID meter to detect an oil spill. It is better to carry out testing following an oil spill and get a negative result than do nothing and have your home damaged by an oil spill.

Health

Fuel oil is a respiratory irritant and can have an anaesthetic affect. Property occupants soon become de-sensitised to the odour following an oil spill and in these cases can sometimes become unwittingly over-exposed.

We can initially contain this by providing local exhaust ventilation to reduce the air-borne vapour, enabling the property to remain occupied. This gives more time for oil spill investigation and gives you more time to consider oil spill treatment proposals.

Fuel oil is very slow to evaporate - the smallest residue is detectable by the human nose because of its strong smell (from sulphur content).