Does my business need a safety shower?

"Does my business need a safety shower?". We often get asked this question. Emergency safety showers, or decontamination showers as they’re also known, are vital protective equipment across many industries. Some, such as pharma and construction, are perhaps obvious; others are less so. In this article, we shall go through some of these. Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but some of the more common industries that use emergency safety showers include:

Construction

The construction industry can pose dust, chemical, and other airborne hazards just as it can pose physical ones. Given the transient nature of such sites, a mobile safety shower unit is ideal in these situations. These can be bought outright or hired on an as-required basis.

Data Centres

It must be remembered that data centres use a lot of coolants and refrigerants in order to maintain servers at optimal temperatures. These pose a risk to workers who may be potentially exposed to them, so it’s essential that a decontamination shower is available to them should this happen.

Food/Beverage Production

The sterilisation process in food/beverage production involves a lot of chemicals, acids, and other agents that can pose a threat in themselves should a worker or visitor become exposed to them. An emergency safety shower is therefore essential for all such production facilities.

Pharma

It goes without saying, but the chemicals and agents used in pharmaceutical facilities can pose a major risk to anyone exposed to them, so it’s important that workers have ready, unhindered access to a decontamination shower should an accident occur.

Mining

Apart from harmful dust, there are a lot of chemicals and agents (e.g., alkalis) used in the mining process that pose an ever-present threat to mine workers. An emergency safety shower is an essential piece of protective equipment, with mobile showers often coming into their own in such situations, given the cramped nature of mines.

Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs)

WWTPs use many chemicals that can cause a lot of harm (or worse) if an employee becomes exposed to them. An emergency shower and eye wash station is therefore critical equipment for all WWTPs.

Warehousing

Some warehouses store and handle many harmful substances that pose a significant risk to workers should they leak or their containers become damaged. If your warehouse contains such materials, then it’s time to look at installing an emergency safety shower and eye wash station in your warehouse.

Still not sure if your business needs a safety shower?

As mentioned earlier, the above list is not exhaustive; just because your industry isn’t mentioned here doesn’t mean that a safety shower is not required. If you’re unsure, call our team today on 0402 32116 (Arklow) or 021 484 1370 (Passage West, Cork) and we’ll advise you on what is required for your facility.