Designing a building isn’t merely about beautifying your exterior and maximising the space of your interior; it’s a process that needs to be thoroughly approached to account for safety, efficiency, and utility.
Not only should the building meet structural safety standards, but it should also account for rooms and facilities that will be used for future stages.
One designated area that you should have in your building is a dangerous goods storage facility. This facility will act as the main storage unit where you and the building’s occupants will store hazardous goods.
While such a facility isn’t a non-negotiable requirement for commercial establishments, it’s a massive advantage to your building’s overall safety features if you have one dedicated to that singular purpose.
Want to know why having dangerous goods storage in your building is key? Read on below to find the reasons why in more detail.
1. Keeps Occupants Safe
The primary reason having a dangerous goods storage site on your property is vital is to keep its occupants safe.
Hazardous goods can come in different classifications and danger levels—and exposure to any of these goods in their most reactive state can negatively affect the health of individuals in close proximity to it.
For instance, certain acids like hydrochloric acids can lead to skin irritation and respiratory issues when touched or inhaled. Liquified petroleum gas can also escape from their container and emit hazardous vapours into the air, endangering the occupants of the building if the accident area is exposed.
Furthermore, employees can also be at heightened risk when hazardous goods are improperly stored. Avoid a labour lawsuit by constructing these dangerous goods sites into buildings.
By isolating these dangerous goods in a dedicated storage area, you’ll be ensuring the safety of the occupants more assuredly. The fact that the room is also designed to hold dangerous goods and not just any storage room helps contain the hazards to an even greater degree.
Even if an accident or leak does occur within this site, the area’s containment keeps the area of effect within that particular zone. The accident won’t spill over to the commercial or residential area of the building quickly, giving people more time to react to the incident and evacuate accordingly.
2. Lessens Environmental Contamination Risk
Dangerous goods don’t only harm people directly, but they can also seep outside and contaminate the environment. This can be problematic if these substances reach communities and ecosystems teeming with wildlife, like local riverways and forests.
Even a small leak can disrupt natural habitats and lead to the death and destruction of a diverse range of wildlife and plant species.
The extent of this damage depends on the chemical that’s been spilled and exposed to the environment. Some chemicals degrade soil and water quality, some substances are forever chemicals that stay in environments for thousands of years, while other chemicals are simply toxic to ingest.
In any case, as a building owner, it’s in your best interest to protect the environment surrounding your property. This not only helps the environment stay healthy, but it’s also a legal requirement to adhere to proper containment practices for dangerous goods.
Having a dangerous goods storage site on your property helps support your commitment to avoiding pollution. Moreover, it also helps prevent the contamination of these goods in the greater environment, thereby making your building a safer and more appealing place to occupy.
3. Ensures Regulatory Compliance
Another reason why you should incorporate a dangerous goods isolation room within your building is because it helps ensure the total legal compliance of your property.
In Australia, the government takes health and safety guidelines seriously. As an illustration, there are enforced guidelines listed on the Australian Standard AS1940-2017 that give instructions on how to manage, store, and contain combustible and flammable liquids.
It’s important to mention that the Australian Standards aren’t law. However, you can look into the Dangerous Goods Act or Regulation to ensure that you’re compliant with the law, as breaking laws listed in these provisions can lead to prosecution.
If your property falls under high-risk industries like chemical processing, manufacturing, and gasoline, it’s critical that you store and handle your hazardous goods with a high degree of care. If you neglect these obligations, you can face fines, penalties, and operational restrictions—which can be a big detriment to the continuous operations of your business.
By putting your dangerous goods in a proper site (and following the other guidelines listed in the aforementioned provisions), you can help make your space exponentially safer to occupy.
4. Decreases The Risk of Fires and Accidents
A lot of hazardous goods are flammable in both their liquid and gaseous form. When exposed in the wrong circumstances, they can react to their environment and ignite—causing a fire or explosion that may pose a fire risk throughout the building.
By putting your chemical substances in a dedicated storage facility and in a Storemasta storage cabinet designed to hold that chemical, you’re mitigating this risk to as close to a zero per cent chance as possible.
This is because these goods are removed from any condition that could cause an unwanted ignition. For instance, putting these dangerous goods behind closed doors prevents unauthorised people from accessing and mishandling these goods.
On top of that, these dangerous goods storage areas are often well-insulated, temperature-controlled, and well-ventilated. These properties help keep the flammable goods from spontaneously combusting.
5. Keeps the Building’s Operations Productive
Another perk of having dangerous goods storage is subtle and indirect, but highly influential to your building’s underlying purpose. It helps support money-making operations.
When dangerous goods are stowed away in designated compartments, the risk of potential hazards acting up drastically drops. Compliant storage areas keep dangerous goods well-contained and sealed, preventing accidental bumps that may cause spills and leaks.
Furthermore, employees can roam the premises more freely without having to worry about accidentally bumping into dangerous goods, as these goods are contained in a special area. This helps create an efficient workflow for everyone involved in the operations.
An accident caused by improperly stored goods can cause a big postponement in normal operations. By restricting access and putting these dangerous goods in safe parts of the building, you’re enabling workers to perform their duties with little risk and improved productivity.
6. Protects The Building’s Structural Integrity
Hazardous goods, if left in the open, can become exposed to various parts of the building. Besides being a toxic substance for humans to ingest, in the worst cases, it can also negatively affect the building’s structure itself.
Certain chemicals have corrosive properties, capable of breaking through thin materials that make up the building’s internal skeleton. This, naturally, can halt or slow operations and be costly to replace and renovate, especially if the leakage has seeped into the floors and walls.
By having a dedicated storage spot for these chemicals, on the other hand, you can design the storage area to contain spills and remain durable even if an accident does occur. In turn, this allows your facility to resume operations and enjoy a longer lifespan without having to undergo extensive repairs.
7. Supports Emergency Response Efforts
Lastly, a key reason why a building should have a hazardous good storage unit is because it helps support emergency response efforts. Even if you’ve done all you can to prevent an accident, there’s still a non-zero chance that it’ll happen.
In such an event, it’s much better to have the scene of the accident situated far from your occupants. You want to minimise the point of contact as much as possible. You’d also want to situate the storage area far from exits and entrances so that evacuation efforts can proceed smoothly.
Furthermore, having all dangerous goods situated in a single room helps responders assess the risks and determine the next best step to respond. It also ensures that there are containment equipment like spill containers, fire extinguishers, and PPE near the area.
With a storage site, hazardous goods will be easily trackable and contained in the event of an accident. This reduces the risk of injuries to other occupants and helps simplify emergency response efforts during these critical situations.
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