aromatic hydrocarbons present which are listed as known, probable, or possible carcinogens. Risk of cancer depends on duration and level of exposure. Reproductive High: Repeated exposure may impair fertility or cause harm to the toxicity unborn child. Common exposure risk to workers involved in motor vehicle or other mechanical repairs, Workplace machine shops and maintenance of industrial machinery. Inhalation is a significant route of health & safety entry into the body at work, most likely to contribute to chronic impacts. Skin contact is a impacts more likely form of entry for acute effects - poor hygiene practices could result in skin absorption. Oil spills at sea have occurred throughout history with catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems. The infamous Exxon Valdez oil tanker incident in Alaska in 1989 was shocking in terms of both its scale and its impact. Immediate effects were over 100,000 birds and mammals were killed1 and 16,000 21,000 gallons were estimated – to still remain on surrounding beaches as recently as 2014, 25 years Overview later.2 Dissolved oxygen starvation is a symptom of high organic loading of waters, such as occurs with oil spills, which effects fish populations both as a physical surface barrier to the atmosphere and from unnaturally active biochemical processes in response to degradation Potential of the organic waste discharge. environment impacts High: Oils can cause devastating physical effects such as coating animals and plants with oil and suffocating them by oxygen Acute ecotoxicity depletion, foul shorelines, clog water treatment plants and catch fire when ignition sources are present. Chronic High: Can destroy future and existing food supplies, breeding ecotoxicity animals and habitats. Medium: Oils will biodegrade in the environment, the rate Persistence dependent on the type of oil spilled, but can form products that linger in the environment for many years. Bioaccumulation Low: Does not bioaccumulate in fish. Where are the Generation Transport Storage Treatment Recovery Final disposal risks of impacts most likely? High Medium Medium Moderate N/A Low Spills of oils can occur on a scale varying from a vehicle or truck sized accident or spill Has anything incident, all the way through to oil tanker spills at sea. In either case the environmental happened damage that can result is due to with water, and its consequent tendency oil’s immiscibility before in to spread across large distances by blanketing the surface of waterways. Australia? While there have been no oil spill environmental disasters of the scale of the Exxon
aromatic hydrocarbons present which are listed as known, probable, or possible carcinogens. Risk of cancer depends on duration and level of exposure. Reproductive toxicity High: Repeated exposure may impair fertility or cause harm to the unborn child. Workplace health & safety impacts Common exposure risk to workers involved in motor vehicle or other mechanical repairs, machine shops and maintenance of industrial machinery. Inhalation is a significant route of entry into the body at work, most likely to contribute to chronic impacts. Skin contact is a more likely form of entry for acute effects - poor hygiene practices could result in skin absorption. Potential environment impacts Overview Oil spills at sea have occurred throughout history with catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems. The infamous Exxon Valdez oil tanker incident in Alaska in 1989 was shocking in terms of both its scale and its impact. Immediate effects were over 100,000 birds and mammals were killed1 and 16,000 – 21,000 gallons were estimated to still remain on surrounding beaches as recently as 2014, 25 years later.2 Dissolved oxygen starvation is a symptom of high organic loading of waters, such as occurs with oil spills, which effects fish populations both as a physical surface barrier to the atmosphere and from unnaturally active biochemical processes in response to degradation of the organic waste discharge. Acute ecotoxicity High: Oils can cause devastating physical effects such as coating animals and plants with oil and suffocating them by oxygen depletion, foul shorelines, clog water treatment plants and catch fire when ignition sources are present. Chronic ecotoxicity High: Can destroy future and existing food supplies, breeding animals and habitats. Persistence Medium: Oils will biodegrade in the environment, the rate dependent on the type of oil spilled, but can form products that linger in the environment for many years. Bioaccumulation Low: Does not bioaccumulate in fish. Where are the risks of impacts most likely? Generation Transport Storage Treatment Recovery Final disposal High Medium Medium Moderate N/A Low Has anything happened before in Australia? Spills of oils can occur on a scale varying from a vehicle or truck sized accident or spill incident, all the way through to oil tanker spills at sea. In either case the environmental damage that can result is due to oil’s immiscibility with water, and its consequent tendency to spread across large distances by blanketing the surface of waterways. While there have been no oil spill environmental disasters of the scale of the Exxon
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