When working with hazardous materials, safety is the responsibility of your entire team.
When your employees have to work with and handle hazardous materials during packaging and shipping, it is very important to make sure they know how to do so safely. Keeping and maintaining a strict set of safety standards ensures that everyone stays protected from the harm these materials can cause. When packaging and shipping hazardous materials, what are some of the ways you can promote safety?
Understand What Hazardous Materials Are
First, it’s important for your employees to understand what a hazardous material is exactly. A hazardous material is defined as any chemical, physical, or biological substance which can cause harm to humans, animals, and/or the environment. This includes chemicals, corrosives, flammable and combustible materials, and toxic substances. Identifying hazardous materials can prove a little trickier than it may seem at first glance because many common items we don’t normally think of as dangerous are classified as such by the DOT and OSHA.
Be Proactive About Safety
Companies and employees that have been handling hazardous materials for an extended period of time are at the highest risk of safety problems. Why? Consider it a flaw of human nature – we tend to minimize the danger and treat these substances with less care as time goes on and we become more familiar with them. Be proactive about safety and never compromise – stay up-to-date on all of the latest handling training practices and never let your employees take their duty to protect their workplace and coworkers lightly.
Get All the Information
It should be a given that your company will follow all relevant local and national regulations when storing, handling, and shipping hazardous materials. However, it’s a good idea to go beyond the minimum requirements whenever possible. Get all of the information about regulations as well as the properties of the hazardous materials themselves. Conduct regular audits to assess risks and areas where your team can improve their safety practices.
Be Overcautious
Take every proper precaution necessary when handling hazardous materials – better to be overcautious than not cautious enough. Train your team to use personal protective equipment when handling dangerous goods and go over best practices for storing them when not in use. While it might be impossible to fully eliminate risk from a shipping department that handles hazardous goods, you can mitigate it to the benefit of your whole team.
Get In Touch With Airpack Today For Your Hazmat Shipping and Training Needs
We have been pioneers in our industry for over 30 years and can assist you with your hazmat shipping needs. We are able to meet any and all of your consulting and training needs, and our trained professional staff is here to help you with your questions about hazmat shipping and regulations.
Feel free to contact us today or email us at info@airpack.com. Our fax number is 410-768-6603. You can also find and follow us on social media and be sure to subscribe to our blog to receive additional important postings concerning hazmat shipping, lithium battery packing, and other services Airpack provides. We look forward to hearing from you soon.