Would you know what do if you had an oil spill in your house?

With autumn coming to an end, now is the ideal time to make sure your home is ready for the winter, especially your oil tank.  

One of the biggest problems with not doing annual checks on your heating system is that you run the risk of it breaking down in the middle of winter, as this is when it is most used.

While oil tanks have a useful life of many years, eventually they will need to be replaced. In fact, you'll need to invest in a new tank or boiler if it is more than 20 years old. 

However, we all lead such busy lives, that many of us are guilty of waiting until something happens before it crosses our mind to do a check-up. 

And when it comes to your oil tank or boiler, that 'something' tends to be a leak… and you calling a specialist to clean it up! 

Because you can't just clean up the mess; an escape of oil requires specialist knowledge and expertise to handle and remedy the problem.

So what should you do if you have an oil spill? 

1. If you discover an oil leak or have a spill, you need to deal with it immediately or it could cause a serious pollution problem.

2. Take action: if you can safely stop the flow of oil, do. If there’s room, put a bucket under the leak and close valves or taps.

3. Use the contents of your spill kit, sandbags or earth to soak up the oil if it’s on a hard surface and stop it entering a river, stream, watercourse, and drains or soaking into the ground.

4. Never wash any spilt oil away into drains, a gully or into the ground. Most drains connect to the nearest watercourse and oil can cause serious pollution of rivers, streams and groundwater.

5. Never use detergents to clean up spilt oil; you could cause a worse pollution incident. The detergent itself is a pollutant and mixes oil into the water.

6. Call a specialist. A company like Verde Remediation Services will rapidly respond to any emergency seven days a week. They are the largest oil spill remediation company in Ireland so you know you'll be in safe hands. Click here for more info. 

Verde provide unrivalled levels of expertise in every aspect of an oil spill remediation programme with in-house teams of environmental scientists, hydrogeologists, remediation specialists and highly-trained civil works personnel. With offices in Wicklow, Cork, Galway and Mayo covering projects around the country, Verde has built up a first-rate reputation.