HSE, SIA AND CBA ISSUE GUIDANCE NOTICE TO CONTROL THE RISK OF STATIC DISCHARGES FROM IBCS FILLED WITH SOLVENTS

The Solvents Industry Association and Chemical Business Association, in consultation with the HSE, recently issued Guidance Notice 51a, which provides detailed instructions on how to minimise the risk of electrostatic incendive spark discharges when filling IBCs with solvents.

To ensure compatibility of solvents and IBCs the guidance notice provides examples of solvents with different flash points and levels of conductivity and their respective compatibility with IBC materials to dissipate static effectively.

In particular it states that all conductive parts of the IBC, including the filling pipe, lines and tanks must be “earth bonded” and the system designed to dissipate static should not have a resistance to earth greater than 10 ohms. It adds that the static dissipative circuits and their resistance levels must be monitored on a regular basis to ensure compliance.

Guidance notice No. 51a is available to download from the SIA website www.sia-uk.org.uk

NOTE: The use of quick release Self-Testing static earthing clamps is one example of how operators can demonstrate compliance with this guidance. Self testing clamps inform operators, via a green flashing LED, that resistance in the static dissipative circuit is maintained at 10 ohms or less.