For over half a century, Hammersley Chemicals has forged an enviable Australian and International reputation for high performance and innovative industrial maintenance products. Driving this has been their long-standing philosophy for providing safer alternative products in areas that have been dangerously neglected for so long.
Hammersley Chemicals National Sales Manager Jono Eather has been working around the mining and chemical industries for close to 20 years and has observed some worrying trends which he explains here.
For far too long, especially in the mining industry, there has been the “she’ll be right”, “we’ve always done it that way” type of attitude which, in the case of chemical usage, has become a very dangerous practice. I believe this has come about from a lack of education around the use of chemicals and the dangers that can arise from using certain chemicals.
Since the year 2000, the annual production of industrial chemicals has doubled to around 2.5 billion tonnes and it is forecast to triple by 2050. Over 350,000 chemicals are currently being used and around 200 new substances are being added to the market each year. The Chemical Industry is generally unregulated, and the closest the mining and general industry come to knowledge and advice, on what they are using, is the downloading of Safety Data Sheets from organisations such as ChemAlert and Chemwatch. These are great tools that every mine site has grown accustomed to, but they do not provide the higher level of training and awareness that is vital to the full understanding and safe use of a chemical.
Mindful of this, Hammersley Chemicals proposes a new, powerful tool to assist in your company’s safety management. We are offering, for all our current and potential customers, to conduct detailed site chemical audits. This audit enables us to list all chemicals and procedures used at a site and provide a detailed report. We will fully inform of any dangers connected to your chemical usage and work with your company to develop a safer way forward. We have the products and resources to provide a safer option for your employees and for the environment.
Every audit we conduct exposes dangerous and unsuitable products and, in many cases, it identifies areas where 3 or 4 similar products can be replaced by just one. This affords increased efficiency in usage, storage, ordering processes and cost management.
Hammersley’s expertise really comes to the fore after the audit report is tabled, where our team can be utilised for onsite, specific product training. Deciphering SDS language is also offered to provide and awareness and establish a better understanding of what to look out for when reading these documents.
In administrating many of these chemical audits over recent years, numerous frightening factors have become evident. Many imported and locally produced products contain some very dangerous ingredients including carcinogens and severe ozone depleting components. The use of flammable, pollutant petrochemicals in degreaser and penetrating oils is pervasive and is an indictment on the companies that offer them, demonstrating that they either have no knowledge of modern chemistry or they do not care.
In recent years, Hammersley, with assistance from federal government incentives, has accelerated its research and development programs, particularly in the direction of safer technologies. The result is a spectrum of exciting, innovative industrial chemicals that display a level of safety and environmental responsibility that has, previously, never been achieved. Three examples are prominent.
The Good Oil
The only renewable, fully plant based, readily biodegradable, non-flammable, multi-purpose penetrating lubricant on the market.
Against a myriad of petroleum based competitors, this product offers extraordinary performance – it is non-hazardous and safe for both the user and the environment.
Detar
Again, a renewable plant based, readily biodegradable, non-flammable and non-hazardous product. It contains no petroleum solvents and is designed to degrease the heaviest contaminants including blackjack grease and bitumen. Before this only carcinogenic and highly flammable petroleum based solvents were used in this space.
Nonflam Contact Cleaner
A direct benefit of our chemical audits
A new aerosol product, created in consultations with customers, to remove the dangers faced using the carcinogenic and ozone depleting ingredients of their current products. A customer and large user, wanting to adhere more closely to their own environmental policy, encouraged us to prioritise this development. With this collaboration our Nonflam Contact Cleaner was created and provides a level of safety for the environment and the user that is seen in no other product in this class. As a bonus the initial customer has reported a significant reduction in usage, due to the higher quality performance.
Take advantage of Hammersley Chemicals site audit offer and extend us an invitation to your mine or industrial site and experience the chemical safety expertise that we have been priding ourselves on for over 50 years. Choose Safety, Choose Quality, Choose Experience, Choose Hammersley.
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