One of the most important duties when running a lab is ensuring that your hazardous chemicals and dangerous goods aren’t causing any health or physical hazards. Keeping your staff and community protected from chemical hazards is an ongoing consideration for all laboratories, but it can get a bit complicated when you’re dealing with a multitude of hazardous substances. In this post, we’ll be highlighting some easy ways that laboratory managers can better manage their dangerous goods responsibilities through the implementation of simple daily, weekly and monthly tasks.
Whether you’re running a small medical laboratory or a large commercial facility, your operations need to comply with the WHS laws in your state or territory.
Labs, just like any Australian business, must adhere to the WHS laws of their state or territory.
Ensuring effective dangerous goods management is a key consideration that assists in maintaining a safe working environment.
This process relies on an array of factors, from providing the right instruction and training to your technicians, assistants, students or teachers - to creating effective emergency plans to protect people, place and environment.
While having a good understanding of WHS law is important for ongoing compliance, we highly recommend conducting an onsite risk assessment so you can adequately control your chemical risks. With the complexity of laboratory operations, having a clear understanding of the chemical hazards is crucial for the safety of your workplace.
IMPORTANT: Under WHS law, all employers have a duty of care to themselves, staff (including contractors and volunteers) and other persons in the workplace (such as students or other visitors). The work environment must not pose a risk to health a safety, and facilities should be provided and maintained to ensure the welfare of all personnel.
There are a varied range of daily, weekly and monthly duties that must be performed in order to maintain chemical safety and compliance in laboratories.
Remember that every chemical product poses a different range of risks, and these must be controlled every day to maintain safety and compliance.
While the scope of these duties is broad, there are several key areas that you can focus on to minimise the likelihood and impact of an incident involving hazardous chemicals.
These include the safety and compliance of:
REMEMBER: All workplaces that carry hazardous chemicals have a responsibility to meet the requirements of the Work Health and Safety Regulations. While labs present unique challenges in the management of hazardous chemicals, creating a checklist of daily, weekly and monthly tasks can help you maintain a hazard-free working environment.
While the range of risk controls may be broad, the basic duties for lab managers can be broken down into some daily, weekly and monthly duties.
The below lists are a general guide to assist in controlling the risks associated with hazardous chemicals in a laboratory setting. However, depending on the chemicals that you work with and the nature of your work practices, you may adjust your responsibilities to suit the needs of your organisation.
IMPORTANT: For detailed information about storing hazardous chemicals in laboratories, you can refer to the Australian Standard. The AS/NZS 2243 series, entitled Safety in Laboratories, covers the key principles of safe storage, including the appropriate equipment, chemical quantities and segregation.
Weekly duties for lab managers may include scheduled inspections of your chemical controls. By maintaining your controls on a regular schedule, your laboratory is adhering to your duties under WHS laws — and ensuring that your controls are working as they should.
Housekeeping is an essential part of maintaining compliance in chemical handling and storage areas.
Some suggested weekly duties may include:
REMEMBER: The Australian Standards define laboratories as any building (or part thereof) which is used, or intended to be used, for scientific or technical work. This includes premises which teach, test, analyse, research or conduct quality control.
Monthly duties for lab managers may include more timely tasks, such as organising risk assessments, reviewing chemical control measures, and ordering chemical storage and handling equipment.
Consider your handling and storage equipment to ensure safety in your lab.
Labs should also ensure all staff training is up to date, with consideration given to changes in chemical inventory or work practices.
Suggestions for monthly duties may include:
IMPORTANT: There are many hazardous substances or dangerous goods which may be used in a laboratory. These may include pathogens or radioactive substances. Your safety and compliance tasks must be tailored to meet the exact needs of your workplace, so the unique risks are controlled and maintained in an organized and methodical manner.
In addition to understanding the WHS laws relevant in your state or territory, we strongly suggest familiarising yourself with the Australian Standards.
The Standards offer detailed guidance for each class of dangerous goods, with specific instructions on how to handle and store these substances.
Laboratories can review the Standards that relate to each individual dangerous goods class (such as Standards for flammable and combustible liquids, toxic substances or corrosive substances). It’s also important to review the Standards that are specifically created for laboratories, such as the AS/NZS 2243 Safety in Laboratories series.
Safe Work Australia also offers a comprehensive range of resources to assist all workplaces that carry hazardous chemicals. Some helpful codes of practice include:
Lab managers can access a range of online resources to assist with your management of dangerous goods.
As we’ve highlighted in this post, chemical compliance and safety is more easily achievable when taking a clear, straightforward, and systematic approach. Dividing tasks into daily, weekly and monthly duties will help all laboratory staff maintain a safer working environment, through the process of inspections, maintenance and corrective actions.
To learn more about working with hazardous substances, you can access our free eBook. Our easy-to-read guide will introduce you to our 4-step risk control methodology, which can be applied to any workplace, including chemical laboratories. Grab your copy today by simply clicking on the image below.