If one of your employees are involved in a serious accident while working with hazardous chemicals or substances, they need to get all the help they can get on site. This includes ensuring you install safety showers and eye wash stations. When you’re in the business of dealing with hazardous materials and chemicals, your workplace needs to meet certain health and safety standards.
These standards are stipulated by local government and authority boards. This means your workplace safety shower and eye wash station needs to be industry compliant. And they need to be tested annually by certified commercial plumbers to ensure they’re operating properly at all times.
Read on to find out why installing safety showers and eye wash stations is essential for preventing nasty injuries from potential workplace accidents.
What You Need to Know About Safety Showers and Eye Wash Stations
When dealing with dangerous chemicals it’s essential to remove any of these substances, after exposure to your body or eyes, within 10 to 15 seconds. If there’s a delay in decontamination, the outcome could be disastrous, even resulting in critical injuries. Your business could end up facing costly legal and medical bills.
Safety showers and eye wash stations have been designed to rinse off any exposure of hazardous substances to the body, eyes, and skin. By having them installed on-site, you can immediately begin crucial treatment should any of your employees be exposed to hazardous substances.
By using the safety shower, contaminants can be rinsed off as soon as there’s been exposure. These showers can also be used, in emergencies, for treating chemical burns. Eye wash stations irrigate the eyes, flushing out any contamination caused by harmful substances.
How to Ensure Your Safety Showers and Eye Wash Stations Are Industry Compliant
Industries dealing with hazardous chemicals and materials are required by law to install industry compliant safety showers and eye wash stations on site. The Australian National Standard Emergency Shower and Eye Wash Equipment, specifically AS 4775-2007, clearly outlines the requirements.
To ensure your safety showers and eye wash stations are industry compliant, the following safety regulations should be noted:
- Location: Both emergency showers and eye wash stations should be located in an area that’s accessible and has adequate water flow to the equipment. This area should also be clearly signposted.
- Water supply: Besides having sufficient flow for proper operation of this emergency equipment, the water supply should be clean and safe to drink.
- Correct installation: Safety showers and eye wash stations can only be installed by a certified commercial or mechanical plumber. Not only is this a legal requirement but it also gives you peace of mind the equipment will function optimally.
- Regular testing: It’s mandatory to test both your safety shower and eye wash station once a week to ensure they’re working properly. This can be done by appointed staff members. Annual tests need to be performed by accredited commercial plumbers.
- Repairs and maintenance: Any repairs or maintenance done on emergency showers and eye wash stations should be performed by a certified plumbing technician and according to the manufacturer’s manual.
A professional plumbing company such as Banjo Nominees will install your emergency equipment to ensure they meet all local and national standard requirements. They’ll also set up regular maintenance schedules and carry out annual testing of these devices.
Specific Requirements for Installing Safety Showers and Eye Wash Stations
Besides taking note of the abovementioned safety regulations, specific requirements also need to be noted:
- Location of emergency showers to be within 15 metres of the hazardous area, on the same level.
- Eye wash stations to be located next to any area using corrosive or strong acids and to be protected from any exposure to airborne dirt or other contaminants.
- Inclusion of a scald protection valve to prevent extremely hot water from flowing through these devices. The water should only be warm.
- Water flow at eye wash stations must be at least 1.5 litres per minute for 15 minutes and at safety showers, a minimum of 75.5 litres per minute for 15 minutes.
By following the Australian National Standard, AS 4775-2007 regulations, you can rest assured your safety showers and eye wash stations are industry compliant.
Final Thoughts
Every business owner knows they’re responsible for the wellbeing of their employees when working in their workplace. And, when it comes to ensuring the health and safety of workers operating with hazardous chemicals and materials, you want to make sure all your emergency showers and eye wash stations are industry compliant.
Give us a call at Banjo Nominees on 03 9397 1111 and we’ll send one of our professional certified plumbing technicians to assist you.