What To Do In The Event of An Oil Spill in an Industrial Kitchen

Kitchen oil spills may seem harmless, especially if it’s only a tiny spill, but if left uncontained or uncontrolled, it can leak into the ecosystem, and cause major environmental harm.

Oil spills are a recurrent cause of suffocation and thus the death of many marine mammals, including dolphins, seals, sea otters, and whales. Oil and water simply do not mix, as oil floats on the surface of the water and can block sunlight from reaching marine life.

If we don’t do our part to control it, our environment is at a major risk of being destroyed. Even the tiniest oil spill can have devastating consequences.

A kitchen oil spill can be immensely messy when it occurs, and it can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. When an oil spill happens in your industrial kitchen, ensure that you follow the steps outlined in this article, and you’ll be playing a major part in keeping the planet safe from potential environmental destruction.

Control The Source to Prevent Further Spill

The first and most important step you must implement, before anything else, is preventing the oil spill from spreading. If you don’t control the spread first, you will have to do twice as much, if not more, work to clean it up.

The whole aim of this is to control the spill in order to minimize the time spent restoring your kitchen back to ultimate cleanliness. So how do you do this? There are a few different proven methods, but this is hands down the most environmentally friendly one:

• Pick up any pieces of shattered glass. Ensure that you don’t use your fingers to do this unless you’re wearing something protective such as garden gloves.
• Carefully place the shattered glass in some newspaper.
• Cover the spill with baking soda or any type of porous material, such as baking soda or kitty litter. If you already have a spill kit handy, even better.
• Leave the absorbent material to soak up the oil for around 30 minutes.

Contain The Spill From Entering Storm Drains

If you follow the above steps, you will prevent the major source of oil from spreading further and potentially causing a much bigger problem.

However, it’s important that you remain vigilant. It’s likely that fragments of oil have already escaped and are at risk of entering the storm drains, and if this happens, it can cause a blockage, as well as major environmental damage.

Now that you know the importance of preventing the oil spill from entering the storm drains, you need to know the precise actions to take. Fortunately, it’s quite simple. To cause to oil to be absorbed, just place something like a bag of sand at the entrance of the storm drain. Then continue with the steps outlined in this article.

Clean and Sweep Up the Absorbents in a Secure Container

The next step is to place the absorbent material you have used to clean up the oil spill in a secure container. Ensure that you put the container away and out of sight for later disposal, and clearly mark it so that someone else cannot accidentally use it for any other purpose.

Apply Degreaser

After the absorbent material has soaked up most of the oil, there will still most likely be some residue left, which can cause stains. In order to help combat this, apply a degreaser which is a highly concentrated and powerful cleaner. The best part about using a degreaser is that it works extremely fast, so you can move on to the next step almost immediately after applying it.

How to Use Degreaser

• Apply a reasonable amount of degreaser to the area of the oil spill. You’ll know how much you will need to apply by reading the product instructions.
• Leave for several minutes.
• Scrub the area with a brush for a minimum of five minutes.
• Leave the area for a further five to 10 minutes.
• Soak the area with water.

Scrub the Affected Floor Area

In the event of an oil spill, it’s very important that even if it didn’t get on the floor, at least you don’t think it got on the floor, that you scrub and clean it spotless, regardless.

Even the smallest fragment of oil can be a risk, possibly causing unwanted slips and falls. Therefore, ensure that you are applying the same steps listed above to the floor so that you can ensure your kitchen is a completely hazard-free zone.

Let the Floor Air Dry

Leave the floor alone for 24 hours in order to let it air dry. To speed up the process, you can turn on the air conditioning or fans, and open windows/doors. This will ensure that an adequate amount of air can reach your industrial kitchen.

Ensure that you, or anyone else, don’t enter the kitchen within this time frame, but if you really must, wear socks and avoid walking on the floor more than necessary. The whole aim is to preserve the kitchen floor and let time take care of the rest.

Perform a Thorough Cleanse of Materials Used

The last, but highly important step, is to clean and sanitize the materials used to clean up the oil spill properly. Follow these steps:

• Remove the absorbent materials from the container.
• Place them in a large bowl containing hot soapy water.
• Let the materials soak in the water for a good 10-15 minutes.
• Sanitize the materials by placing them in a large bowl of sanitizer solution.
• Remove the materials and let them air dry overnight or for the following 12-24 hours.

Summary

Kitchen oil spills can happen anytime without warning and can be disastrous if not treated with proper care and caution. They can pose a major safety hazard, and cause blockages, or even worse; contaminate the environment, killing wildlife, marine life, and plants.

If oil leaks out into the ecosystem, it might cause disruptions to part of the food chain, including sources of food consumed by humans.

Fortunately, you can take your part in preventing this from happening by religiously following all the steps in this article.

Ecospill

Ecospill can help contain and prevent oil spills from happening. Having a spill kit nearby is a smart plan of action, and can prepare you for any type of oil that happens. We have various spill kits available to help you do your part in keeping the planet safe and free from environmental harm.

What preparations will you make next to ensure you’re more than ready and able to combat the next unexpected kitchen oil spill?