Increase Workplace Safety - Handling Chemicals Safely

If you are using a chem­i­cal for office clean­ing, chem­i­cal safe­ty is very impor­tant. Prop­er use of a chem­i­cal bot­tle and ensur­ing the use of PPE boost clean­ing safe­ty when han­dling chemicals.

Video Tran­script:

Speak­er 1: All right, Budd Group Team, we are here in this J clos­et to talk about some­thing that our folks have to do every day and that’s mix­ing chem­i­cals. We’re here with our account super­vi­sor, Cas­san­dra, to talk about how we can do this safe­ly. Make sure that when we mix the chem­i­cals we are doing it effi­cient­ly, effec­tive­ly and safe­ly so that when we do take that chem­i­cal out, we can get the job done the way that we need to. What are the first things we need to know before we get mix­ing any chemicals?

Cas­san­dra: Have your PPE on. Your pro­tec­tive equip­ment. Your gog­gles, your gloves so no spillage on your hands or in your eyes.

Speak­er 1: That’s right. Def­i­nite­ly want to keep it out of our eyes. That’s super, super impor­tant, I’m glad you men­tioned that and you just nev­er know. Some­times it can splash back up or we may spill it. So that’s very good. Okay, so I noticed this bot­tle has a label on it. What do we need to know about bot­tles and labels?

Cas­san­dra: We need to always make sure that your labels match the chem­i­cals that you’re putting into your bottles.

Speak­er 1: Very good. Okay. Any­time we’re pour­ing a chem­i­cal out of some­thing and into some­thing else, we want to make sure that the bot­tle that we’re pour­ing out of it has a label and that that label match­es the bot­tle that we’re pour­ing it into.

Cas­san­dra: Yes.

Speak­er 1: Okay. This method that we have here is what we have at some of our accounts and it is called the RTD method or Ready To Dis­pense. And if you’ll notice, this is actu­al­ly a dif­fer­ent type of label than is on this bot­tle because this is not what Cas­san­dra typ­i­cal­ly uses at [inaudi­ble 00:01:34] just for demon­stra­tion pur­pos­es. She’s just going to walk us through how you would do this with­out actu­al­ly dis­pens­ing the chemical.

Cas­san­dra: Okay. So you would always make sure that your water was turned on.

Speak­er 1: Okay.

Cas­san­dra: And open up your bot­tle, away from your face. Always think­ing about the safe­ty. Place it in and then you would just dispense.

Speak­er 1: Just like that. Very good. As sim­ple as that. And then once you dis­pensed it, what do we need to do?

Cas­san­dra: Okay, once you turn your water off to make sure that you dis­con­nect­ing it.

Speak­er 1: Just like that.

Cas­san­dra: Yes.

Speak­er 1: Very good.

Speak­er 1: So this is real­ly impor­tant, Budd Group Team. If we leave that water on, it’s going to allow that water to build up right here at the bot­tle could cause a gas­ket or some­thing to break. And the next thing you know we’d have water all over this. So super impor­tant to turn the water off and dis­con­nect that RTB dis­penser. Okay, very good. At this account we actu­al­ly use the J Fill. Cas­san­dra, how would you use this chem­i­cal mix­ing method?

Cas­san­dra: I would turn it on first and make sure every­thing’s on. Take the top off the bot­tle. Make sure that I select the prop­er selec­tion, which is crew for the chem­i­cal that we’re about to dis­pense. Clear the line. Once it’s clear, place the bot­tle under the noz­zle, push and fill.

Speak­er 1: Very good. What a cool piece of equipment.

Cas­san­dra: Yes.

Speak­er 1: It sure does make it easy. And then I always rec­om­mend go ahead and clear the line when you’re done as well, just in case some­body gets in here and for­gets to clear it before they use it. All you’re doing when you’re clear­ing it out is mak­ing sure that if you’re swap­ping from one chem­i­cal to anoth­er that you’re not mix­ing them in the con­tain­er that you’re using.

Cas­san­dra: Yes.

Speak­er 1: Very good. And then we just turn the water off.

Cas­san­dra: Always turn the water off.

Speak­er 1: That’s right. The last method, which we use a lot when we’re work­ing with floor and floor care is hav­ing to just mix the chem­i­cals by hand. If we mix­ing the chem­i­cals by hand, say in a mop buck­et, what were some of the things we need to know about that?

Speak­er 1: Always put the water in first and make sure that you have the prop­er ratio for the water to the chemical.

Speak­er 1: Okay, very good. Always impor­tant to get that water in there first. That’s going to keep the chem­i­cal from hit­ting that hard plas­tic and splash­ing back up into our eyes. Again, very impor­tant to make sure we have the right PPE on. And like as Cas­san­dra said, we want to make sure that we know the ratio before we start pour­ing that in there to make sure we’re mix­ing and dilut­ing that chem­i­cal at the right rate. Very good. These are all great things to know. And the last thing I would say is any­time we’re mix­ing chem­i­cals, we need to be sure that we know where our SDS or our safe­ty data sheets are locat­ed for the account. And the rea­son this is impor­tant is some­times acci­dents hap­pen and if you were to get a chem­i­cal in your eye or some­where where where it’ll start to cause irri­ta­tion, we’d want to make sure that we can go to that SDS sheet and see all the chem­i­cal prop­ers that we need­ed and go ahead and report that in the prop­er ways. Thanks for hav­ing me and I look for­ward to see­ing you soon.

Cas­san­dra: And thank you.

Speak­er 1: Absolutely.

Speak­er 3: Safe­ty tips for mix­ing chem­i­cals. First, always wear the appro­pri­ate PPE, includ­ing gloves and safe­ty gog­gles. Before you fill up an emp­ty chem­i­cal bot­tle read the label. The dis­pens­ing con­tain­er should have the match­ing label of the bot­tle. If you’re using an RTD or ready to dis­pense first, con­nect the tub­ing and then turn on the water. Fill the bot­tle as need­ed, and then turn the water off and dis­con­nect the RTD. If you’re using a J Fill first, select your chem­i­cal and then clear the line before and after you fill the bot­tle. If you’re fill­ing by hand first, put your water in for our prop­er ratio of chem­i­cal to water. Refer to the SDS if you have any ques­tions or spills or accidents.

The Budd Group strives to be a God-hon­or­ing com­pa­ny of excel­lence safe­ly deliv­er­ing ser­vices in jan­i­to­r­i­al, main­te­nance, and land­scap­ing; offer­ing devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for their employ­ees; and con­tribut­ing to their community.

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