Here at STOREMASTA, we’re celebrating National Safe Work Month by encouraging every workplace that carries dangerous goods or hazardous chemicals to think about creating healthier and safer environments. When it comes to improving chemical safety on the job, there’s many things that you can do. One important factor is to consider the range of free resources offered by SafeWork Australia, including information on dangerous goods, storage and handling practices.
In addition to accessing SafeWork Australia’s long list of resources, we’ve also compiled our 6 top tips for chemical safety. While these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dangerous goods safety and compliance, they will give you a good idea of where to start when controlling hazards in your own workplace.
1. Keep SDS Updated and Easily Accessible
Your safety data sheets (SDS) are the essential documents which outline all the properties and hazards associated with your chemical products. Don’t be fooled into thinking that similar products pose the same type of risks. Each chemical that you have onsite (even the same product made by different manufacturers) can create a unique set of risks in your organisation.
Safety data sheets are vital for staff awareness and safety, as well as providing the guidance for emergency services in the event of a spill, fire or other onsite emergency.
You must request SDS from your supplier or manufacturer and keep these close to your chemical stores. SDS more than 5 years old must also be updated, to ensure that all the information regarding properties and hazards remain current.
Understanding the properties and hazards of each chemical is made easier by having SDS stored in an easily identifiable and accessible document holder.
Store your SDS in a safe and methodical manner, inside a safety data sheet folder that’s kept within a SDS document holder. You can also attach these document holders to your chemical cabinets or outdoor chemical containers to ensure that the sheets are easily accessible.
IMPORTANT: If your organisation is responsible for manufacturing of importing chemicals, you must make the correct SDS availbale for each hazardous chemical.
2. Minimise Battery Risks
While batteries are essential in all types of workplaces, there’s also considerations to be made when handling and storing these items. Just like your chemicals, batteries can create hazards in the workplaces which can harm your staff, damage property and contaminate the natural environment.
Following the manufacturer’s instructions is the first step in ensuring battery safety in the workplace. You must know how the battery must be charged, handled and stored — as well as what specific hazards it poses to your organisation.
While there are multiple types of batteries commonly used in workplaces, lithium-ion batteries are of considerable concern. With incidents of fires and explosions increasing across Australia, it’s an important time to think about the safety precautions needed to handle and store these items safely.
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Charging lithium-ion batteries can create dangerous situations, where thermal runaway can lead to whole stores of batteries igniting. To reduce these risks, ensure that all staff follow the manufacturer’s instructions and that batteries are always kept in optimum conditions. Be aware of sunlight, heat, impact damage and sources of ignition, as lithium-ion batteries need a cool, dry environment for safe charging and storage.
3. Keep Chemical Packages Clean and Tidy
Housekeeping isn’t just something you do when you have a little time spare at home. Wiping down containers, tightening lids and recapping bottles are just some of the housekeeping duties that you’ll have to perform to maintain safe and compliant chemical stores.
Never leave chemical containers lying around a jobsite: instead, keep them inside a lockable cabinet or outdoor storage container when they’re not in use.
Chemical residues can pose a range of hazards, including flammability, corrosion and toxicity. Therefore, your packages should be regularly wiped down and secured so they don’t pose problems while they’re in storage.
Also make sure that your IBCs, drums, containers, bottles and other packages are loaded neatly in your chemical store. Make sure they’re kept in an orderly fashion and away from doors and closing mechanisms. Also remember to only stack packages when it’s safe to do so – as chemical containers can easily topple, causing damage to the store and staff, as well as creating a spill risk.
4. Improve Air Flow and Ventilation
To reduce harmful vapours and maintain the workplace exposure standards, you need to ensure adequate ventilation of your chemical storage and handling areas. There are 700 odd chemicals listed in the workplace exposure standards, so if your chemicals are listed there, you have an obligation to test your workplace to check the level of airborne contaminants.
While maintaining a tight chemical inventory, preventing leaks and spills, implementing compliant storage and ensuring good housekeeping practices all assist with reducing airborne contaminants in the workplace, natural and/or mechanical ventilation is necessary to create a healthier work environment.
Some workplaces may require the mechanical ventilation of their safety cabinets and stores, so hazardous vapours are safely dispersed out of the storage area. However, this includes consideration of the Australian Standards, the workplace exposure standards and your own onsite risk assessment.
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In addition to mechanical ventilation systems for indoor chemical cabinets, stores and handling areas, you can also practice some simple ways of improving the quality of air within your workplace:
- Where possible, keep doors and windows open to encourage free air flow
- Only decant chemicals in specific work rooms with suitable ventilation systems
- If work tasks are producing dust, vapours or other contaminants, make sure that the area is mechanically ventilated so the contaminants are safely dispersed away from other work areas
- Check all chemical bunding daily and clean-out if contaminated
- Make sure any air conditioning or heating systems are regularly serviced and maintained
- Consider fans or exhaust fans in crowded areas
5. Use Bunded Chemical Handling Equipment
One of the simplest ways to avoid chemical spills in the workplace is to transfer your chemical packages in a careful and safe manner. However, if staff are tasked with the job of moving containers, drums or boxed chemical packages without bunded handling equipment, accidents can easily happen.
Chemical containers can be dropped or damaged if there is no equipment to assist with the transfer of goods. Your staff can also risk physical injury when lifting heavy, large or awkwardly-shaped packages. To avoid such incidents occurring in your workplace, it’s a good idea to invest in bunded chemical handling equipment. Your staff won’t have to undertake backbreaking work and your packages will remain intact and leak-free.
Options for handling equipment may include:
- Gas bottle trolleys – these gas bottle trolleys help keep cylinders upright and secure while moving throughout an organisation
- Drum dollies – for the seamless transfer of heavy chemical drums without the risk of spillage
- Bunded trollies – to reduce the likelihood of packages spilling while they’re being moved across the worksite
- Spill containment caddies – for capturing leaks and spills when transferring chemicals from small drums
6. Don’t Neglect Your Emergency Decontamination Equipment
Emergency decontamination equipment, such as eyewash stations and safety showers, are in place to provide prompt decontamination for workers in the event of leaks, spills, burns, cuts or other on-the-job accidents. However, this equipment can’t look after your staff if you don’t take the time to test, clean and maintain it.
Safety showers and eyewash facilities need to be in good working order, so staff can quickly wash off hazardous chemicals and other contaminants. If not, you could be wasting valuable time and risking serious human harm.
Are your safety showers and eyewash stations being properly maintained?
There are specific maintenance requirements that apply to emergency eyewash and shower equipment, as per the Australian Standard AS 4775:2007.
Some of these include:
- Monitoring the facilities to ensure the flushing fluid is operating as it should
- Activating the equipment weekly to make sure it’s working properly, with the correct water quality and pressure
- Inspecting the emergency decontamination equipment for faults or damage
- Yearly integrity testing and tagging (by a qualified technician)
- Inspections and safety audits to ensure equipment is still effective and appropriate for the hazards at your site
However, you can have the best equipment in the best condition – but if your staff aren’t using the eyewash and shower in the right manner, then it can be subject to damage or contamination. Staff must always be able to identify, locate and use the equipment provided, so they can quickly reduce the impact of a workplace accident. And this can only be achieved if staff are properly trained in how to use the emergency decontamination equipment in the event of an accident or emergency.
Tips For Safer, Healthier Workplaces
Thanks for reading our post to celebrate National Safe Work Month. We hope we’ve given you a glimpse into just some of the actions that you can take to help maintain chemical safety in your organisation. If you’d like to learn more about controlling the risks associated with hazardous substances, you can access our free eBook. Our guide will lead you through our 4-step risk management process and help you identify, assess and control the chemical hazards that pose risk to your staff, organisation and the wider community.
