What’s the most hazardous substance you store onsite and how do you manage it?
For us I would say the most nasty stuff we have would either be hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid. Both are used for recharging ion exchange columns.
The sulfuric acid is managed in a bulk storage tank, which (based on my past experiences) is the safest way to manage it. At the first place I worked we just had sulfuric acid in totes and drums which required operators to change them out frequently, pulling hoses and wands out of the drums constantly. This opened the operators up to more exposure than was needed. The bulk storage tank is filled from a tanker, which just requires the operator to configure the correct valving, other than that there’s very little exposure as the chemicals can be added to our process remotely.
Comments (3)
For us it was Cyanide Gold Solution for Gold Plating....but that has been eliminated. So now I would say it's the pre-cleaner which is basically straight NaOH. It's only a small tank, and it's in a room that we keep locked. Only one person uses it and he's highly experienced. There's a spill containment tray around the tanks as well, and we have a spill kit on hand.
I believe for me it would have to be sulfuric acid/Chromic Acid. We use totes for sulfuric acid and totes for the waste stream of spent chromic acid. We decided not to use tanks for the spent chromic acid because of the requirements in subpart J. We use a system to pump the tote contents into the electroplating tanks.
The most hazardous substances at my site would be Sodium Hydroxide and Sulfuric Acid which are used in pH neutralization. We store the chemicals on top of spill containments in a specical designated area that is clearly marked and equiped with a safety shower and proper spill kits. Only individuals who have been properly trained and familiar with the SOPs are allowed to be in the area and handle the chemicals.