Yellow Shield is offering its guidance to businesses who want to avoid problems with drip trays as the wet weather continues.
This country isn't known for being the most predictable when it comes to weather and the rainfall can cause real problems when it starts to fill up drip trays placed underneath plant and machinery.
Christian Harrer, from the leading spill control company Yellow Shield, explains how a plant nappy can help while ensuring that you don't incur excessive costs.
There should be drip trays placed under any machinery in case of an oil or fuel spill. Drip trays can prevent the spillage from polluting controlled waters. But when it rains, a conventional drip tray fills with water and pumping this rainwater out into a drum and disposing of it using a waste disposal contractor can be expensive.
The best solution to this problem is a plant nappy which is a self draining drip tray which filters the rainwater and then captures the fuel and oil before discharging clean water to the site drains. These site nappies have been recommended by The Environment Agency as a way of providing effective containment for site plant and machinery.
The design of the plant nappy allows drips of oil or fuels to be absorbed into the base of the mat which is a non permeable fabric laminated with an oil only absorbing pad. The base mat can absorb four and a half litres of oil but repels water. The side wall is permeable with a filter fabric that allows only free passage of water. Even in the heaviest rain, the plant nappy never needs pumping out.
Plant nappies are made to be durable and they will therefore withstand the most rigorous site conditions. But being made of fabric rather than steel, they are also lightweight (they weigh 1.5 kg) and they are therefore easy to handle and transport from site to site.
When the base of the plant nappy is becoming saturated with oil, a replacement nappy liner can be inserted with the oil absorbing capacity of another four and a half litres. This avoids the expense of replacing the whole plant nappy.
The standard size of the plant nappy is 1 metre by 0.685 metres as this is large enough to contain normal generators and pumps on site. However plant nappies can be manufactured to a larger size if necessary.
Plant nappies are now in use on construction sites and in rail yards and transport depots around the country.