Managing Hazardous Substances

By Tina Wallace

Hazardous Substances, you would think that the name itself would indicate that caution needs to be taken.  Then why do so many people have such a lax attitude to managing hazardous substances, risking the health of their employees, friends and family?

When I go to worksites I repeatedly see things which demonstrate that not enough people think much about the hazards involved in hazardous substances:

  • Hazardous substances in drink bottles 
  • Hazardous substances stored in unlabelled containers
  • Incompatible substances stored together
  • No register of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) or stored in no logical order for easy retrieval in an emergency
  • No MSDS at all
  • Chemwatch or ChemAlert only available to Supervisor?s
  • Contractors bringing in hazardous substances with no MSDS
  • Different types of Gas Cylinders being stored together
  • No bunding to contain spills

Only recently there was a news article where a young boy went to the fridge and drank what he thought was a bottle of juice.

However, unbeknown to the youngster, he just drank a bottle of garden insecticide! Luckily, the young boy survived; but not before a having his stomach pumped and five days in hospital.

There are significant health, safety and environmental issues with all hazardous substances. As demonstrated by the incident with the young boy, it is not restricted to workplaces. Does your family understand the risks?

In each and every state of Australia, Hazardous Substance is managed through the Health and Safety regulations. Why, you might have asked are there so many regulations? Because it has been proven that these substances cause a risk to people, including ?. YOU!

To easily manage the minimum requirements we only need to look at the regulations.

For example, the legislation for employers under the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations in Queensland requires employers to:

  • Obtain an Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
  • Record and Display MSDS
  • Label containers
  • Complete a risk Assessment
  • Retain Records
  • Control Exposure
  • Conduct Monitoring and Health Surveillance
  • Maintain a register of MSDS
  • Complete Induction and Training

For those readers wondering ?How am I going to manage all of this?; IT?S NOT THAT HARD.

A brief look at the requirements reveals:

Obtain a Material Safety Data Sheet
If you purchase hazardous substances, the supplier should also supply a MSDS. If they don?t request a copy of the current MSDS. There is also a requirement that the MSDS?s be updated every five years to ensure the correct information

Recording and displaying MSDS
When you receive a MSDS it must keep it in a register, and keep a copy close to where the substance is being used to allow workers who may be exposed to refer to it easily.

Labelling Containers
When you purchase containers of hazardous substances they will be labelled. If the substance is decanted (put into another container) ensure the correct labelling is attached / fixed to the container.

Risk Assessment
You need to conduct a risk assessment for each of the hazardous substances they have. Why? To ensure any risk identified with using the substance is controlled.

Retain Records
There are several records that need to be retained in relation to hazardous substances; they are:

        • Risk Assessments
            • For each substance record the product name or other information, control measures for the substance, date of assessment, degree of risk, monitoring required and if any health surveillance is required.
            • If the risk assessment shows a significant risk you must keep the risk assessment, monitoring results and health surveillance reports for 30 years. 
            • If the risk is not significant you must keep the risk assessment for 5 years.
        • Monitoring Results:
          • Ensure any workers who may have been exposed receive a copy of the results;
          • Allow workers access to inspect monitoring results at any time.
        • Health Surveillance:
          • Keep health surveillance reports

Induction and Training:

Keep induction and training records for 5 years, the record must include:

  • Date of the session;
  • Topics dealt with at the session;
  • Name of person who conducted the session;
  • Names of workers who attended the session.

Controlling Exposure 
Implement any controls as identified by the risk assessment. Remember, if having identified Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as a control the following needs to be done:

  • Supply the PPE;
  • Train personnel in the use of the PPE; and
  • Ensure the PPE is worn.

Conduct Monitoring and Health Surveillance
Complete monitoring or health surveillance if it was identified during the risk assessment as a control.

Register of MSDS?s
The MSDS register must contain the following:

  • A list of all hazardous substances used at the workplace;
  • The current MSDS for each substance.

You must also allow employees who may be exposed to hazardous substances to inspect the register at any reasonable time.

Induction and Training
All employers must give induction and training to workers who may be exposed to a hazardous substance.

Meeting the regulations for hazardous substances is not difficult and is not a chore. Completing some simple processes will protect the health of yourself, your friends, your employees and your family.

For help in meeting the regulations email us

Tina Wallace is the founder and principal consultant of Audit 13. Audit 13 helps individuals and companies in the rural, mining and manufacturing sectors understand their obligations with regard to Occupational Health and Safety and to comply with them. To learn more go to http://www.audit13.com ?2007 Audit 13