Hazchem - stands for hazardous chemical
Hazchem is a warning plate system used in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, India and the UK for vehicles that transport hazardous chemicals and also used on storage facilities to alert fire emergency services personnel about the type of dangerous goods stored to effect the appropriate emergency action response to a situation involving the hazardous chemical/dangerous good. The ADG Code for the transport of dangerous goods by road and rail in Australia lays out the requirements for Hazchem warning plates/signs.
Outer Warning Placards
Hazchem sign is required at the entrance to a workplace when the amounts stored exceed the prescribed placarding quantity in the WHS Schedule 11. The Hazchem must also conform to the design in Schedule 13 of the WHS Regulations.
The Chemwatch chemical management system (GoldFFX, Chemeritus) is all about having information about your chemicals at your finger tips. Chemwatch developed a pocket sized hazchem card that has a complete summary of all the important information required to safely store your dangerous goods along with the explanations of the Emergency Action Codes. The miniature card the following information.
- Hazchem Emergency Action Codes for fire or spillage
- The meaning of the hazchem codes
- Storage Incompatibility Chart based on Dangerous Goods diamonds with a matrix type chart for prohibition, segregation, fire separation.
All dangerous goods are assigned class labels (diamonds) ranging from Class 1 to 9; to identify them and also denote the hazard class of a particular substance. Class labels are represented by diamond shaped warning signs and description of the principal hazard. Example: Class 2.1 Flammable Gas, Class 4.1 Flammable Solid. The table for provides DG Classes, DG Diamonds and their respective description. Section 2 of the SDS will show hazchem labels.
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Flammable gases are gases that can ignite in air if the flammable/vapour concentration lies within certain limits. These limits are identified as the upper and lower flammable or explosive limits. The flammable range is the flammable vapour/air concentration, which falls between these limits. The flammable or explosive limits are expressed as the percentage of a particular vapour in air. The vapour/air density is usually greater than one, therefore many flammable gases will settle in low areas. Examples: propane, butane, ethylene, acetylene and Liquid Petroleum Gas. | Exhibit a vapour pressure greater than 300kPa at 50 degrees Celsius.
Completely gaseous at 20 degrees at Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP).
Subdivision during transport is required and it is determined by the primary hazard of the gas.
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Placarding Manifest Requirements
The table below provides the compliance requirement as per hazard category grouping with respective threshold amounts for both Placard Quantity and Manifest Quantity.
COLUMN 1 | COLUMN 2 | COLUMN 3 | COLUMN 4 | COLUMN 5 |
|
| Placard quantity | Manifest quantity | |
1 | Flammable gases | Category 1 | 200L | 5000L |
2 | Gases under pressure | With acute toxicity, categories 1, 2, 3 or 4 | 50L | 500L |
3 | With skin corrosion categories 1A, 1B or 1C | 50L | 500L | |
4 | Aerosols | 5000L | 10 000L | |
5 | Not specified elsewhere in this Table | 1000L | 10 000L | |
6 | Flammable liquids | Category 1 | 50L | 500L |
7 | Category 2 | 250L | 2500L | |
8 | Category 3 | 1000L | 10 000L | |
9 | Any combination of chemicals from Items 6 to 8 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000L | 10 000L | |
10 | Category 4 | 10 000L | 10 0000L | |
11 | Self-reactive substances | Type A | 5kg or 5L | 50kg or 50L |
12 | Type B | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L | |
13 | Type C to F | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
14 | Flammable solids | Category 1 | 250kg | 2500kg |
15 | Category 2 | 1000kg | 10 000kg | |
COLUMN 1 | COLUMN 2 | COLUMN 3 | COLUMN 4 | COLUMN 5 |
|
| Placard quantity | Manifest quantity | |
16 |
| Any combination of chemicals from Items 12 to 15 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
17 | Pyrophoric liquids and pyrophoric solids | Category 1 | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L |
18 | Self-heating substances and mixtures | Category 1 | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L |
19 | Category 2 | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
20 |
| Any combination of chemicals from Items 17 to 19 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
21 | Substances which in contact with water emit flammable gas | Category 1 | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L |
22 | Category 2 | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
23 | Category 3 | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
24 | Any combination of chemicals from Items 21 to 23 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
25 | Oxidising liquids and oxidising solids | Category 1 | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L |
26 | Category 2 | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
27 |
| Category 3 | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
28 | Any combination of chemicals from Items 25 to 27 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
29 | Organic peroxides | Type A | 5kg or 5L | 50kg or 50L |
30 | Type B | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L | |
31 | Type C to F | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
32 | Any combination of chemicals from Items 30 and 31 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L
| |
33 | Acute toxicity | Category 1 | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L |
34 | Category 2 | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
35 | Category 3 | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
36 |
| Any combination of chemicals from Items 33 to 35 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
37 | Skin corrosion | Category 1A | 50kg or 50L | 500kg or 500L |
38 | Category 1B | 250kg or 250L | 2500kg or 2500L | |
39 | Category 1C | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L | |
40 | Corrosive to metals | Category 1 | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
41 |
| Any combination of chemicals from Items 37 to 40 where none of the items exceeds the quantities in columns 4 or 5 on their own | 1000kg or 1000L | 10 000kg or 10 000L |
42 | Unstable explosives |
| 5kg or 5L | 50kg or 50L |
Notes 1 In item 2, Gases under pressure with acute toxicity, category 4 only applies up to a LC50 of 5000 ppmV. This is equivalent to dangerous goods of Division 2.3. 2 Item 4 includes flammable aerosols. | ||||
The nine hazard pictograms represent physical, health and/or environmental hazards. Chronic health hazards include carcinogens, reproductive toxins, mutagens, specific target organ toxicants, and aspiration toxicants. Below is a comparison table between the WHS hazard pictograms and the ADG diamonds.
| Hazard Pictograms | GHS Hazard | Dangerous Goods Class Labels (Pictograms) | Dangerous Goods Class Type |
| Exploding
bomb
| Explosives Self-reactive Organic peroxides |
| Explosive |
| Flame
| Flammables Self-reactives Pyrophorics Self-heating Emits flammable gas in contact with water Organic peroxides |
| Flammability (Liquid, Solid or Gas) Pyrophoric, Emits Flammable Gas Organic Peroxide |
| Flame
over circle
| Oxidisers |
| Oxidiser Oxidising gas |
| Gas
Cylinder
| Gases under pressure |
| Non-toxic non-flammable gas, flammable gas, oxidising gas, toxic gas. |
Skull and crossbones
| Acute toxicity |
| Acute toxicity Acute Toxic gas |
| Exclamation
mark
| Acute toxicity Skin irritants Eye irritants Skin sensitisers | No equivalent | |
| Health
hazard
| Carcinogens Respiratory sensitisers Reproductive toxicants Target organ toxicants Germ cell mutagens | No equivalent | |
| Corrosion
| Eye corrosion Skin corrosion Corrosive to metal |
| Corrosive to metals |
Environment
| Aquatic toxicity. Not covered within the scope of workplace hazardous chemicals requirements |
| Environmental hazard |
No equivalent hazard pictogram | Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods |
| Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods |
Not covered within the scope of workplace hazardous chemicals requirements | Infectious Substances |
| Infectious Substances |
| Not covered within the scope of workplace hazardous chemicals requirements | Radioactive Substances |
| Radioactive Substances |
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
Click here for more information on dangerous goods regulations.
Click here for more information on dangerous goods regulations.
New South Wales (NSW)
Click here for more information on dangerous goods
Victoria (VIC)
Click here for more information on dangerous goods.
HAZCHEM outer warning placards at your premises, if the quantities of dangerous goods stored and handled at your premises exceed the ‘Placarding Quantity’ in Schedule 2 of the DG (S&H) Regulations.
Please click on the link below to download the code of practice for the storage and handling of dangerous goods in Victoria for further reference.
Code of Practice - Storage and Handling of Dangerous Goods
Queensland (QLD)
Please click on the link below to download the placard storage of hazardous chemicals in Queensland.
Placard Storage Hazchem Requirements
Manifest Requirements in QLD (WHS 2011)
Safework Australia
Download the WHS Placard and manifest requirements under the model WHS Regulations by clicking here.
Placarding Report in Chemwatch System
The Chemwatch system provides users a hazards filter to generate a Placarding Report based on the hazardous chemicals located in your Manifest directory or folder location. Click here for more details.
Incompatibility Report in the Chemwatch System
The Chemwatch System provides users with the ability to generate an Incompatibility Report based on the dangerous goods classification data and the respective incompatibilities that exist between the various classes. Click here for more details.
