Preventing spills is always our first goal, but despite our efforts, spills still happen. The goal of our spill preparedness work is to reduce environmental impacts of spills.
Spill Plan
Your best defense against the impact of a chemical spill is to be prepared. A Spill Response Plan and a Spill Kit are two ways you can be prepared to respond and cleanup a spill. The spill plan should be reviewed with employees periodically and posted near the spill kit at the business.
If a spill occurs
Stop the spill and warn others in the area immediately.
Shut off any ignition sources, including cigarettes.
Contain the spill. Protect storm drains, surface water and wetlands.
Report the spill immediately to the appropriate agencies:
Washington Emergency Management Division at 1-800-258-5990
The National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802
Use a spill kit to clean up. Watch this video from Seattle Public Utilities on how to use a spill kit properly.
There are no penalties for reporting a spill unnecessarily, but there may be significant penalties for not reporting one.