An O&M technician opens an outdoor battery cabinet and finds a shallow puddle of electrolyte under one battery in a flooded deep-cycle bank. The concrete pad drains to a planted swale, the SDS requires a face shield, chemical goggles and acid-resistant gloves, and it calls for neutralizing the electrolyte with an alkaline absorbent before disposal. Which hazardous-materials response should the technician use for this electrolyte spill?

The response with the SDS-required face shield, chemical goggles and acid-resistant gloves, followed by blocking the path to the planted swale, neutralizing with alkaline absorbent and collecting the residue for disposal, addresses both personal exposure and migration. The face shield and goggles provide the specified eye and face protection; blocking the drainage path helps keep contaminated electrolyte from reaching soil or vegetation. Chemical goggles and acid-resistant gloves without the face shield are incomplete because the SDS requires both eye and face protection. Absorbing the electrolyte with compatible pads and sealing them for hazardous-waste disposal manages the contaminated material, but absorption alone does not neutralize it as the SDS requires. Placing absorbent socks around the puddle may contain its perimeter, but does not block the pad’s drainage path to the swale, leaving the stated migration route uncontrolled. Exam caveat: generic spill-kit instructions do not override a substance-specific SDS or site procedures. Practical check: before cleanup, confirm the required PPE and neutralizer in the SDS, identify where the pad drains, and verify the waste container and disposal route.