Welcome to Spill Center
Update, the information service focusing on hazmat transportation safety, risk
avoidance and cost containment.
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Spill Data Provides Benefits
Statistical data on spill incidents can provide valuable
benefits by alerting companies to safety issues that need to be addressed. Spill
Center has developed proprietary computer systems that track statistical data,
including container types, as part of its handling of DOT 5800.1 incident
report forms for clients. When companies centralize spill reporting with Spill
Center, they can be notified whenever an unusual spike is detected in the
frequency of spill incidents.
Spill Center was involved in a case with a nationwide
transportation company that suddenly had an increase in steel-drum leaks system
wide. This was unusual because the company had never experienced any 55-gal.
steel-drum spills previously. In the course of an 8-hour day, they went from a
statistical frequency of zero up to 80% of steel-drum failures.
Spill Center's system picked that up and notified the client.
Otherwise the company would not have noticed it because the spills were
occurring in cross-dock operations in terminals all over the country. A
terminal manager does not typically pick up the phone and call other terminal
managers or corporate to report those incidents to them.
But the Spill Center system detected the increased frequency
for the client. In addition to notifying the client, a Spill Center compliance
associate also notified the client's customer, a chemical shipper. It was
determined that the proper wrenches had not been provided by the drum
manufacturer to tighten the bungs on the steel drums. As a result, every drum
going out of the chemical plant was a quarter-turn loose.
That cost Spill Center's client $200,000 in cleanup and response
costs in the 8-hour period, but the cause was identified in that short time
frame and stopped. Without the Spill Center data, the situation could have cost
significantly more before the source of the problem was found.
Become a Spill Center
Subscriber
To find out
more about Spill Center services and how to become a subscriber, contact Tom
Moses, president of Spill Center. An environmental attorney and former EPA
toxicologist, Tom founded Spill Center over 20 years ago to help subscribers
contain costs and limit liability arising from accidental releases of diesel
fuel, hazmat and other regulated materials. Call his direct number at
978-568-1922, x222; email him at tmoses@spillcenter.com;
or visit Spill Center's website at www.spillcenter.com.
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