Chemwatch Knowledgebase

Identify Hazardous Chemicals

 The first step in managing risk involves the identification of all chemicals that are likely to be used, handled, stored or generated at the workplace. A person conducting business or undertaking must obtain and provide access to Safety Data Sheets. A current SDS must be readily accessible to workers involved in using, handling and storing the hazardous chemical at the workplace and emergency service workers or anyone who is likely to be exposed to the hazardous chemical. 

Access to SDS in the workplace

The SDS must be kept in a location near the work area where the substance is used; either as a hard copy, soft copy or any other format (such as an online version )and workers likely to be exposed to the hazardous chemical must know how to find the SDS. 

Obligations relating to SDS in the workplace

Safety Data Sheets and other matters include manufactures and importers to ensure that hazardous chemicals are correctly labelled as soon as practicable after manufacturing or importing the hazardous chemicals. 

Other sources of information regarding hazards and risks associated with the use, handling, generation and storage of hazardous chemicals can be obtained from the following sources:

In Australia, hazardous chemicals are defined according to the WHS Regulations: A hazardous chemical means any substance, mixture or article that satisfies the criteria for a hazard class in the GHS. 

Chemicals may present immediate or long-term injury or illness to people caused by their health and physicochemical hazards. Chemicals can present:

• Physical hazard
• Health hazard
• Environmental hazard

So What is a Safety Data Sheet?

A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is a document prepared by the manufacturer or importer of a hazardous chemical to provide detailed information regarding the hazardous product as per compliance requirements.   The manufacturer or importer of the hazardous chemical must provide the current (up to date) SDS for the hazardous chemical to any person, if the person is likely to be affected by the hazardous chemical or to any person who asks for it. When a hazardous chemical is first supplied to a workplace, the SDS must be provided with the hazardous chemical. An SDS is used for cataloguing information on chemicals, chemical compounds and chemical mixtures and provides information on the hazards associated with a material and instructions on how to work with the material in a way that is safe. It also includes information such as:

• Physical data (e.g. boiling point, melting point, flash point, vapour pressure, etc)
• Physical state (powder, liquid, gas, pellet, etc)
• First aid
• Health effects
• Reactivity
• Recommendations for storage and disposal
• Toxicity
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Spill handling procedures in case of emergency.

This information above is split into 16 clearly defined sections, with the information for each section. Hazards can be identified from Section 2 of an SDS; where a legislative statement will be provided to identify the classification, system used for the classification of the material/substance/product. The following table provides a summary of each section of an SDS, however, this is not a full comprehensive list of information required on the SDS, manufacturers/importers can reference the full detailed data fro the Code of Practice for Creating an SDS.

Below are some of the basic requirements for industry practice. 

• Review required every 5 years
• Amended if new information about hazardous chemical is known
• Review not necessary if manufacturer or importer has not produced chemical in last 5 years
• SDS should be made available after hazardous chemical is withdrawn from sale
• SDS translations are acceptable and attached to original SDS