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Working with hazardous chemicals is a huge health and safety challenge, in part mitigated by the provision of essential emergency shower and eye wash equipment. However, add in the issue of high ambient temperatures and supplying suitable decontamination solutions becomes more complicated.

You’ve purchased a safety shower or eye/face wash, the unit has been installed according to ANSI and EN standards, within 20 metres or 10 seconds reach of the hazard, is easily identifiable and free from obstructions.Do all employees know where to find these units? Do they know how to activate a safety shower or eye wash in an emergency?

There are very specific rules and guidelines around the storage and transportation of dangerous substances. From the material of the vessel through to the temperature of the room the chemical is stored in, it’s essential that employers mitigate the risks to ensure the safety of employees, the public and property.

Quality is essential, particularly in the manufacture of safety products. Safety showers and eye wash equipment must be reliable, robust, and work first time, every time, to protect lives. Hughes’ rigorous approach to delivering high-quality products is evident throughout our manufacturing processes. We are audited to ISO standards, namely 45001:2018, 14001:2015 and 9001:2015. Producers of sustainable, high-quality components are in evidence throughout our entire supply chain.

Ensuring the safety of workers should be one of your primary concerns as an employer. Investing in safety showers ensures you are investing in the safety of your employees as well as providing yourself with peace of mind that you are compliant to international standards. It can, however, be a challenging task.

Every year, thousands of workers are injured or suffer ill effects due to hazardous substances. Employers are responsible for taking effective measures to control exposure to these substances and to ensure proper procedures are in place in the event of a spill or splash.

There is a wide range of chemicals that can be hazardous to workers health. If a substance is harmful, they will be clearly labelled with the relevant hazard symbol(s). Common materials in everyday use such as paint, bleach, solvent, or fillers are all considered hazardous.

The water held in a self-contained shower or eye/face wash units may become stagnant. This makes it susceptible to bacterial growth and if not properly treated and maintained can become a source of infection.

We outline some practical steps for limiting bacteria growth in your safety showers and eye/face wash equipment.

Ensuring you have the right emergency safety equipment can be challenging, especially if your site does not have easy access to a clean potable water supply. Water pressure can also be an issue for a lot of sites.

For a lot of locations, portable emergency safety showers and face/eyewash stations are essential. If installation measures for a plumbed in unit cannot be met, portable equipment can provide immediate access, guaranteeing worker safety.

The European standards, BS EN15154 and the international standard for safety showers and eye/face wash equipment, ANSI Z358.1-2014 specify that water delvered by an emergency safety shower must be tepid and is vital to ensuring worker safety.

Safety showers provide immediate relief for employees splashed with hazardous chemicals. However, a safety shower that operates outside of the tepid water range can cause more harm to a victim

Outokumpu are the global leader in stainless steel, boasting the widest product portfolio in the market. With 100 years of expertise in metals and mining, they aim to become the best value creator in stainless steel.

Their Sheffield facility has different process lines with varying mixtures of acids and caustics, bulk storage areas and effluent treatment. To ensure workers who could be exposed to any of these hazardous substances have access to quality and functional safety showers and eye/face wash equiment, they decided they needed to replace their old safety shower models.

A fact that was made clear at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was that supplies of disinfectants, PPE and alcohol gel were too low to meet the demands of both front-line workers and the general public. Health-care workers in particular struggled with shortages, and alcohol hand gel was out of stock in stores everywhere.

Unexpectedly, micro-breweries and distilleries stepped in to meet the increased need. These manufacturers quickly altered their processes to make way for the production of thousands upon thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser.

Data storage centre sites store computing and networking equipment for the purpose of collecting, storing, processing, distributing or allowing access to large amounts of data. It's essential to ensure that these sites conform to health and safety guidelines and workers are safe.