Emergency safety showers and eye wash units can be the difference in preventing life-changing injuries (or worse) when staff get exposed to harmful substances or chemicals. As such, safety officers and facility managers should ensure that a rigorous maintenance and inspection programme is continuously implemented on all emergency safety showers and/or eye wash units under their remit. While not exhaustive, here are some of the factors to consider when executing an effective maintenance programme for your safety showers and eye wash units.
Good Safety Shower Maintenance Mitigates Against Legionella
Legionella is a risk that all emergency safety shower or eye wash unit owners need to be aware of. Without proper maintenance, water pipes, nozzles, and shower heads can provide a breeding ground for legionella to thrive in, which turns your unit from a piece of PPE to a hazard in itself. Storage tanks should be disinfected annually and all parts kept clean. The Emergency safety shower/eye wash unit should be regularly flushed to clear the system of stagnant water.
Maintenance Keeps Your Emergency Safety Shower Free of Built-Up Sediment
Emergency safety showers should be activated weekly at a minimum. This removes the risk of sediment building up, which can not only harbour harmful bacteria but cause blockages or affect the flow of water, reducing the effectiveness and functionality of your safety shower unit.
Check for Missing or Damaged Parts
It should go without saying, but missing or damaged parts severely affect the functionality of emergency safety shower or eye wash units. For example, missing covers/lids on eye wash units can allow debris to get in and contaminate and/or hinder the flow of water. In cold environments, a faulty heater can result in the temperature being below the requirement set by the ANSI and EN standards. A leaking pipe is obviously not desirable either. It’s better to catch even small defects before they can escalate into big problems that potentially compromise employee safety—in an emergency situation the last thing you want is to discover a defect when your employee needs to use the safety shower. Therefore preventative maintenance is crucial.
Ensure That All Levers and Pedals are Functional
Where safety shower units are pressure activated, you should ensure that these pedals are always functional and work on the first attempt. Likewise, all levers should be checked for ease of operation.
Maintaining the Correct Water Pressure is Crucial for Effective Emergency Safety Shower Operation
Maintaining the correct water pressure is crucial to effective emergency safety shower/eye wash unit operation. If the water pressure is too low, then it will not decontaminate the user effectively. If it’s too high then users may not stay long enough to ensure thorough decontamination (minimum 15 minutes). Therefore maintenance checks should ensure that your water flow is adequate (while not being too strong). Ensure your pressure-reducing valves are functioning correctly, and (as mentioned earlier) check that the pipes are free of sediment or debris that could hamper the water flow to your emergency safety shower units.
Emergency Safety Shower & Eye Wash Units Must be Activated and Inspected Weekly
It is an absolute requirement that all emergency safety shower and eye wash units are activated on a weekly basis, whether needed or not. This will help mitigate against some of the problems discussed above (e.g., flushing them of built-up sediment) while also helping to identify defects before they cause problems. Weekly activation and inspection is stipulated under the standards EN15154 and ANSI/ISEA Z358.1-2014
For more information on maintenance and inspections for emergency safety showers and/or eye wash units, call our team on 0402 32116 or 021 484 1370. We cover all over Ireland and have offices in Arklow (just one hour from Dublin) and Passage West on the outskirts of Cork city. We are the official agent for Hughes Safety Showers in the Republic of Ireland. You can also email us at sales@mahealy.ie.
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