Chemical safety is the responsibility of the whole team, with managers and supervisors playing an essential role in enforcing operational procedures and housekeeping practices. However, without the correct training and refresher courses, chemical safety can often take a backseat to job tasks, with compliance and safety being compromised. If equipment such as bunds or safety cabinets fall into disrepair – or they’re being used incorrectly – they can create a dangerous situation in your workplace, with staff unaware of the hazards. In this post, we’ll be discussing essential hazardous chemical safety training for managers and supervisors, offering some training tips and chemical hazard advice to ensure maximum safety.
What Does Chemical Safety Training for Managers and Supervisors Involve?
While every staff member requires training to fulfill their responsibilities at work, when workers are handling or storing hazardous chemicals, the training needs to address the precise risks associated with the onsite substances – as well as their work tasks.
Hazardous chemical safety training for managers and supervisors is essential for maintaining a compliant, healthy working environment. If management does not possess the necessary qualifications and knowledge in hazardous chemical safety, then their staff – and workplace – can potentially be at risk of hazards such as hazardous vapour inhalation, chemical reactions, fires, flashback or chemical burns.
Chemical safety training must be detailed, thorough and up to date – with refresher courses offered after a period of time. Revisions to the training program need to occur when things change onsite – including the introduction of new chemicals, controls or work practices.
Safety Equipment and Chemical Hazard Training
When it comes to chemical safety, managers and supervisors have dual roles. First, they must understand chemical hazards, and follow operational procedures to keep themselves safe in the workplace. Then they must ensure the staff they supervise possess the knowledge and skills to carry out their jobs tasks without getting injured or sick.
You can’t enforce workplace safety if you don’t know the correct procedures yourself. Therefore, all managers and supervisors need to undergo the same training as the people they will also be supervising.
Staff training for hazardous chemical safety can include topics such as:
- Physical and health hazards of the chemicals in their work areas and how they could dangerously exposed.
- Recognising and responding to chemical hazards.
- Handling and storage procedures mandated through legislation, Australian safety standards and codes of practice.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be worn or used while in various work areas.
- How to use safety equipment like emergency showers or eyewash stations.
- Their role in responding to a chemical emergency.
Your staff must know how to respond in a chemical emergency situation.
Supervisors must lead by example, following every safety procedure correctly themselves. Every time. Afterall, your managers and supervisors protect your investment and make sure that staff use equipment correctly and put those chemicals away.
REMEMBER: Understanding how to read a safety data sheet can help your staff learn about the chemical hazards and required controls for that substance. Find out more about safety data sheets by reading our blog.
Understanding Their Role as a Safety Supervisor
When managers and supervisors are recruited from production-based roles they usually have excellent technical knowledge but arrive at the job with a limited leadership and consultative skills. Your safety training program should also focus on their role as leaders and how they impact the safety of every individual worker, as well as the entire worksite.
The focus of the training is not about being the ‘safety police’, it should always be about their role in preventing chemical accidents, making sure the organisation is complying with the law, and keeping people safe from harm. Your training should teach supervisors how to include chemical safety in their daily management practices and give them the confidence to follow up and act when they observe unsafe work practices.
Chemical safety training for supervisors may include the identification of:
- Gas cylinders left unrestrained inside the gas bottle cage.
- Chemical containers stacked unsafely and at risk of falling over.
- Aerosol cans left on work benches after use and not put away into a dedicated aerosol storage cage.
- Bunded pallets and chemical stores overloaded and now exceed the spill containment capacity.
- Incompatible substances found in the same chemical store.
- Welding and other maintenance work that produces sparks conducted within 3 metres of Dangerous Goods stores.
Your training should also help supervisors understand how workplace accidents can occur more frequently during staff shortages or when employees face extra work demands. It’s during these times staff begin to take shortcuts or experience fatigue. This is especially dangerous when hazardous chemicals are involved.
Non-Safety Training That Promotes Chemical Safety
When safety equipment falls into disrepair, or overall housekeeping fails to meet acceptable standards, it isn’t always because managers and supervisors are being lazy or slack. Sometimes newly appointed managers and supervisors have trouble prioritising production pressures and find themselves overwhelmed when breakdowns or blockages create unavoidable delays. However, applying an effective risk management strategy includes the provision for staff training to improve chemical safety.
Helping your managers and supervisors improve their delegation, time management, and leadership skills will ultimately improve productivity and free up their time to devote to safety matters.
Imagine the impact on overall chemical safety if your supervisors had the time each day to:
- Provide greater training and support to workers beyond their initial safety induction.
- Take immediate action when staff are not wearing PPE or using chemicals correctly.
- Replace missing or damaged warning placards.
- Closely managing the behaviour and safety standards of external contractors.
- Liaise with workers about the effectiveness of engineering controls.
- Implement shift change meetings that focus on chemical safety issues as well as production and quality.
- Perform visual checks on chemical containers, decanting stations, and safety cabinets.
Chemical Management for Managers and their Team
As a hazard control measure, safety training is categorised as an administrative control. It’s a workplace essential, but to be effective must accompany a range of other chemical safety controls. If you’d like to learn more about the chemical management process, we recommend downloading our free eBook. How to manage the risk of Hazardous Chemicals in the workplace will help you train your staff and supervisors so they can understand how to conform with a compliant risk management plan. Access your copy of the eBook today and kickstart your hazardous chemical safety training program to ensure compliance and safety for your team.
