You’ve been through the whole risk management process and your hazardous chemical storage areas are all clean and in order. But before you breathe a sigh of relief, don’t forget that you’ll need to periodically review the whole system to sustain compliance. Risk management is not a set-and-forget approach to chemical safety and this blog post is all about the follow-up. Making sure you have a clear review process that includes scheduled compliance audits, regular maintenance and follow-up risk assessments is how you can sustain compliance with hazardous chemical storage regulations.
First let’s quickly look at the steps required in getting your worksite compliant with chemical safety and storage regulations.
The Storemasta methodology for chemical risk management consists of 4 clear steps to compliance:
Each step in the process is essential — and dependent on the other three.
For example, you can’t control a chemical hazard (step 3) if you don’t identify the chemical correctly (step 1), at the same time conducting a risk assessment (step 2) without introducing any control measures (step 3) is a waste of time. Once you’ve achieved compliance, step 4 is essential to sustain a safe workplace. And that’s what we are going to talk about now.
Storage compliance depends on the chemicals at your site, as well as their quantities, storage facilities, work tasks and other unique factors.
To adhere to WHS Regulations and the Australian Standards, we recommend developing inspection checklists to ensure your stores have been selected, installed, stacked, used, cleaned and maintained correctly. By regularly inspecting your chemical storage facilities, you can actively reduce the likelihood and impact of chemical hazards.
While there are many specific factors that will apply to your chemical stores, some common examples of storage compliance include ensuring that:
Your chemical safety cabinet or outdoor store must be used and maintained correctly to sustain compliance.
Now that you’ve been through the full risk management process you need to regularly review each of your control measures to make sure they’re working.
Following this Storemasta method, make sure you conduct a follow up risk assessment to identify:
Additionally, each time significant changes are introduced to the workplace you’ll need to conduct a risk assessment. Changes might include heavy staff turnover, new management, emerging technologies that introduce new work methods, chemicals that become obsolete or illegal, or suppliers that go out of business.
A WHS compliance audit is an analysis of the workplace to assesses each chemical storage area for compliance to current WHS legislation, as well as relevant Codes of Practice and Australian Standards. A WHS compliance audit should be conducted regularly.
A WHS compliance audit covers:
WHS compliance audits are best conducted by external consultants who offer objective insights into the workplace. After physically conducting the audit, they will prepare a detailed report including the corrective actions that need to be taken to ensure compliance.
Finally, you should ensure that operational plant and safety equipment is scheduled for regular inspection and maintenance.
This includes:
Scheduled maintenance contributes to a safer workplace, minimises production downtime, and decreases breakdowns and emergencies. And in your chemical storage areas you’ll have the opportunity to investigate any leakages or spills, damage to containers and security breaches.
To achieve and sustain regulatory compliance, you’ll need a solid Chemical Management Program (CMP) that includes a system for identifying and controlling chemical hazards. To get started, we recommend accessing a copy of the eBook How to manage the risk of Hazardous Chemicals in the workplace. This free resource details the 4 essential steps of chemical compliance, with practical tools and templates to help you along. Download your copy now to learn how to sustain compliance with your hazardous chemical stores.