Resource Center
In the Field: Response to Hydrated Lime Spill on City Roadway
We have decades of experience with responding to incidents of varying impacts. Recently we responded to a release of hydrated lime on a city roadway.Byline: BTB Editor
May 18, 2022 / Time to read: 5 minUS Ecology was called upon by a customer after a truck transporting hydrated lime experienced a spill on its delivery route. A trailer valve malfunction caused approximately 1,000 gallons of product to spill onto a one and a half-mile stretch of public roadway in La Porte, Texas. In large quantities, hydrated lime, a sodium bicarbonate solution, can be harmful to the ecosystem. When inhaled, it can also cause airway irritation in humans.
Once on site, US Ecology’s Emergency Response Manager, Supervisor and technicians conducted a risk assessment and devised a plan of action using our US Ecology STARRT Card (Safety Task and Risk Reduction Talk). This allowed the team to quickly identify hazards associated with the response and apply controls to perform the necessary cleanup tasks safely. Our team collaborated with the city fire department to setup traffic detours and block the impacted areas using high visibility road barriers, stop signs, cones and vehicles equipped with emergency traffic lighting systems. These efforts helped mitigate civilian traffic from driving through the affected area, as well as kept all personnel on site safe during the entirety of the cleanup response.
Our team of 18 professional crew members and technicians outfitted with appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), were quickly mobilized to the scene from our service center in Houston, TX. We applied absorbent boom to support drain system pollution control. Dikes were used to contain run-off and avoid leakage into nearby soil and water systems. Our technicians operated several industrial pressure washers to remediate the spill and followed up by pumping the contaminated wastewater into vacuum trucks for safe removal.
US Ecology has decades of experience in emergency response and handles over 10,000 incidents annually. Our extensive knowledge and expertise, as well as our ability to quickly deploy needed resources, aided in the cleaning and remediation of the highway within 12 hours without any further incident. All associated waste was removed and securely transported to our facilities for treatment and safe disposal.
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