Hazardous materials storage

Stakeholder	Life safety	Property loss	Functional loss
Solution/ Expertise	Repair time	Costs of strengthen

Typical causes of damages
Unsecured or improperly stored hazardous materials resulting in a release may close businesses located in an otherwise undamaged building. It poses health and safety risks to employees, students, staff and the environment.

Recommended methods
Anchor all shelving units or cabinets used for storage of hazardous materials to walls using L-brackets.
Chemical storage shelving must have shelf lips or other restraining devices (e.g. lip, wire or bungee cord along edge) or front panel plates and vertical spacers installed to prevent chemicals from falling [27].
Seismic netting holds small, light-weight items [15].
To prevent accidental mixing of chemicals, incompatible materials must be segregated properly, at a safe distance from each other to avoid mixing if the containers fall and break.
Relocate heavy items or volatile chemicals to floor mounted cabinets.

Adapted from [15] by M. Vicente