Are you prepared!!! That can be an oil spill…

Oil spills are one of the major disasters recorded till date occurring in a variety of forms and severities. Although nobody wants oil spill incidents, the reality is that they do, that too in large numbers.

From a few gallons leaking out of a small boat or sunken ship to millions of gallons from huge tankers or ruptured pipelines, these spills vary in sizes and types. Apart from the various manmade sources that contribute maximum in the oil spill, there are also natural oil seeps that can release thousands of gallons into the ocean.

Oil spills into rivers, bays, and the ocean most often are caused by accidents involving tankers, barges, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs, and storage facilities.

Spills can be caused by:

• Human follies or people being careless.
• Breaking down of equipment.
• Natural disasters such as cyclones.
• Deliberate acts by terrorists, countries at war, vandals, or illegal dumpers.
• Once the oil has spilled, firefighters may respond to the incident, depending on who's needed. People may use any of the following kinds of tools to clean up spilled oil:

• Booms, which are floating Barrera to oil (for example, a big boom may be placed around a tanker that is leaking oil, to collect the oil).
• Skimmers, which are boats that skim (scoop) spilled oil from the water surface.
• Sorbents, which are big sponges used to absorb oil.
• Chemical dispersants and biological agents, which break down the oil into its chemical constituents.
• In situ burning, which is a method of burning freshly spilled oil, usually while it's floating on the water.
• Washing oil off beaches with either high-pressure or low-pressure hoses.
• Vacuum trucks, which can vacuum spilled oil off of beaches or the water surface.
• Shovels and road equipment, which are sometimes used to pick up oil or move oiled beach sand and gravel down to where it can be cleaned by being tumbled around in the waves.

The choice of methods and tools depends on the circumstances of each event along with appropriate bunker gear. Setting up stations where cleaning and rehabilitation of wildlife is one of the ways to deal with it. In some cases, responding is not helpful rather it just adds to the damage from the spill.

To know more about fire safety and other helpful information, visit our website https://www.sos-safety.com/ or call us at +1(561) 237-4247 to talk to our experts.