There’s more to meeting your safety and compliance obligations than simply choosing the right safety cabinet. In fact, inspecting and maintaining your cabinet is a key requirement under WHS Regulations. However, it doesn’t have to be a complicated and time-consuming task. In this post, we’ve compiled a complete guide to make safety cabinet inspections and maintenance easier for your business or organisation.
REMEMBER: You can incorporate the information in our post to add to your existing weekly inspection checklist. And don’t forget to download our free checklist to help with your compliance obligations.
The Importance of Safety Cabinet Maintenance
There are several important reasons why you should regularly inspect and maintain your chemical storage cabinets.
These include:
- Safety – your cabinet can’t provide chemical controls and protection if it’s not operating as it should
- Compliance – as part of your WHS obligations, you must keep your controls properly maintained
- Efficacy – without proper maintenance, your cabinet won’t work as it should, making tasks more difficult and laboursome for staff
WHS Obligations
You should refer to the WHS laws that apply to your state or territory to determine your obligations with chemical controls and their maintenance. Australia’s Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations explains in Part 7.1 Hazardous Chemicals - Subdivision 4 Storage and handling systems:
- A person conducting a business or undertaking at a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that a system used at the workplace for the use, handling or storage of hazardous chemicals:
- Is used only for a purpose for which it was designed, manufactured, modified, supplied or installed; and
- Is operated, tested, maintained, installed, repaired and decommissioned having regard to the health and safety of workers and other persons at the workplace.
Maximum penalty:
In the case of an individual - $6 000.
In the case of a body corporate - $30 000.
Furthermore, in Chapter 3 General risk and workplace management, the Regulations state that:
37 Maintenance of control measures
A duty holder who implements a control measure to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety must ensure that the control measure is, and is maintained so that it remains, effective, including by ensuring that the control measure is and remains:
(a) fit for purpose; and
(b) suitable for the nature and duration of the work; and
(c) installed, set up and used correctly.
Chemical Cabinet Inspection and Maintenance Checklist
Therefore, developing weekly inspections of your chemical storage cabinets can greatly assist with maintaining compliance in the workplace – as well as increasing the longevity of your equipment.
Keeping your cabinet compliant includes considerations about installation, usage and maintenance.
Below are the factors that you should consider when inspecting and maintaining your dangerous goods storage equipment. However, we strongly recommend that you conduct an onsite risk assessment to properly determine any hazards that may be present in your workplace.
IMPORTANT: This is just a general guide for chemical cabinet inspections and maintenance. Refer to the applicable Australian Standard for your dangerous goods class to learn more about maximum quantities to be kept, cabinet location, housekeeping and other requirements.
Exterior
The exterior of your cabinet should, ideally, be free from dents, scratches and rust. If the corrosion-resistant powder coating is damaged, it can create further deterioration of the sheet steel construction. However, in a protected indoor environment, smaller scratches and damage should not lead to serious corrosion.
Dents, however, can affect the structural integrity of the cabinet. Dented sheet steel may impact the effectiveness of the thermic air barrier that’s between the walls, it could cause instability, or affect the functionality of the doors.
When in doubt, contact us to determine if you should repair or possibly decommission your cabinet.
Vent Bung
If you don’t have a mechanical ventilation system installed on your cabinet, you will have a vent bung secured to the store.
Should the vent bung be missing, it must be replaced to ensure the cabinet is a contained environment. These can be purchased online from Storemasta’s range of spare parts.
Shelving
Shelving should be undamaged, with perforated shelves allowing for the free movement of air within the cabinet. Lugs and shelving are both fully adjustable, with replacement parts available if required.
NOTE: Corrosive storage cabinets (Class 8) will have PVC spill trays on the shelves for corrosion protection. Replacement PVC spill trays can be purchased from Storemasta.
Doors
Self-closing, tight fitting doors should be operating correctly. Look out for issues such as the doors not closing in sequence, closing too quickly or slowly, or not closing tightly.
The speed at which the doors are closing can be manually adjusted by using the adjustment screw on the hydraulic door closer itself.
If doors aren’t closing and latching properly, it may be because the cabinet is not level. To remedy, lift the side of the cabinet and pack until doors are level and functioning as they should.
If the safety door closer mechanisms are damaged, they can be replaced by purchasing spare parts from Storemasta.
NOTE: For oxidising agent cabinets (Class 5.1) or organic peroxide cabinets (Class 5.2), the doors will automatically release if there is a build-up of pressure within the store. There is no lock on this type of safety cabinet. Therefore, you can check to see if this automatic release works by pulling the door and ensuring that it opens easily.
Handle
Handles should be moving freely. It must lock into place automatically once the doors have completed their self-close function. You can use a lubricant on your handle from time to time, to keep it operating smoothly.
If the handle has suffered damage, it can be replaced by purchasing a replacement handle kit. The handle kit comes complete with instructions and one cabinet key.
Componentry
Check the cabinet to ensure that all components are working as they should. This includes door hinges, latches, nuts, bolts and screws.
Many of these components can be easily replaced if they are damaged or have gone missing.
Spill Containment Bund
The spill containment bund must be clean, free from chemical waste or residue and operating to its full capacity.
If there is any damage within this bund, such as holes, corrosion or tears in the metal, the spill containment bund won’t be able to protect your workplace from leaks and spills.
NOTE: Corrosive storage cabinets (Class 8) will have PVC spill trays in the spill sump to protect against corrosion. Check the spill trays for damage and replace, if necessary, via Storemasta.
Footings
Stability is essential for chemical storage cabinets. Therefore, it’s important to check that the cabinet is on an even footing. While a solid, even base is essential for cabinet installation, small variances can be rectified by packing the uneven side of the cabinet. However, make sure that this doesn’t adversely affect how the doors and closing mechanisms are operating.
Signage
There should be multiple signs displayed clearly on your chemical cabinet. These include the appropriate dangerous goods diamond, maximum capacity, manufacturer’s details and hazard signage, where appropriate. If any signage is damaged or goes missing, it must be replaced.
Cabinet Contents
Chemical cabinets must only store the particular class of dangerous goods that they are designed to hold. Therefore, you must not store mixed classes.
Inspect your cabinets to ensure that the correct chemicals are being stored within.
Packages
Your cabinet should hold chemical packages that are free from wrapping, boxes, tape and other materials that they were delivered in. Chemical packages should have airtight lids which are securely tightened.
Any residue that has been left on the containers should be cleaned off, with the cloth and chemical waste disposed of correctly. Chemical containers should sit neatly on the shelves, with the maximum capacity of the cabinet never being exceeded.
Safety Data Sheets
Current safety data sheets (no more than 5 years old) for each chemical product should be freely available and located close to the cabinet. However, the paperwork should never be kept on or in the cabinet, as it must be accessible to staff or emergency services.
We recommend storing safety data sheets in a folder, kept within a document holder – that’s attached to each individual chemical storage cabinet.
Area Around the Cabinet
To provide a combustible-free zone and easy access to the cabinet, the top of the cabinet and the immediate surrounding area should be free from clutter. The doors of the cabinet won’t be able to open properly if the space surrounding the cabinet is limited. Make sure that the cabinet is not in the path of oncoming vehicles or excessive pedestrian traffic.
If you’re storing flammable substances, ensure that any ignition sources are isolated and kept away from the area by a distance of at least 3 metres.
Need a Maintenance Checklist for Your Safety Cabinet?
To make your cabinet maintenance schedule easier, we’re created a handy checklist to assist with your inspections. We recommend you use your checklist regularly – preferably every week – so you quickly rectify any issues with the way your cabinet is being loaded, used or cleaned. Grab your free download today and look after your cabinets, as well as your compliance obligations.
