Risk Management and Your Water Treatment Program

After doing a little research on risk management, I found that many times risk management does not have to be expensive or labor intensive to be effective. This certainly can be the case with your cooling tower or boiler water treatment program.

On a very simplified level, there are a few basic steps to risk management: Identify the risks, measure the frequency and severity of the negative outcomes resulting from the risks, consider alternative solutions to mitigate the risks and monitor the results of any alternatives applied.

Let’s see how these apply to a typical liquid water treatment program:

1. Identify risks – With a liquid water treatment program, there are many risks including:

• Heavy drums – A 55 gallon drum of liquid chemical weighs about 500 pounds. Not only are these drums expensive to ship, moving these can result in back injury, toe injury, or finger injury which can lead to costly Worker's Compensation Claims.
• Spills – Liquids can spill anywhere – on the way to your facility and inside your facility. These chemicals can be hazardous to both the environment and, most importantly, your employees.
• Onsite storage – Are your liquid chemicals being stored properly? Many facilities do not have the space to properly store liquids based on their hazardous classification. The different chemicals are often stored in one containment area which increases the potential for dangerous chemical reactions.

2. Measure frequency and severity – For a liquid water treatment program with the risks mentioned above, an accident could happen anytime the 55 gallon drums are being transported to your facility, moved to the boiler or cooling tower and even when they are just being stored!

3. Alternative solution? - EnduroSolv® solid concentrate water treatment.

• EnduroSolv® solid products are packaged in 1-gallon, recyclable containers (each weighing about 10 pounds). One case of four jugs offers the same amount of treatment as one 500 lb 55-gallon drum of liquid. Imagine the savings in freight costs alone.
• There is no potential for spills as EnduroSolv® is a solid concentrate.
• Five cases of EnduroSolv® products occupy the same footprint as one 55-gallon drum. Also, since there is no leak potential with EnduroSolv® products, special storage containment areas are not necessary.

4. Monitor results – Because EnduroSolv® products contain the same active ingredients as their liquid counterparts, you will see the same scale and corrosion protection for your boilers and cooling towers you expect in a safer, cleaner and economical program.

Take a look at your water treatment program. Do any of the risks mentioned above apply to your facility? If so, contact us to discuss how EnduroSolv® can help reduce your risk and liability while maintaining your facility’s well run chemical program. Isn’t the peace of mind for both you and your employees worth it?

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier