Tuesday, June 16, 2009

DUTIES OF OCCUPIERS ,Dangerous Goods Act 1985

. Introduction
This Part is designed to assist occupiers6 in meeting the requirements of the Regulations. If
you are an occupier, you have duties to identify hazards and assess and control risks arising
from the storage and handling of dangerous goods. You also have duties to consult with
employees and health and safety representatives, and provide employees and other affected
people on the premises with induction, information, training and supervision.
14. Consultation
You must consult with employees and their health and safety representative(s), and any other
people you engage to carry out work at the premises who are likely to be affected by the
dangerous goods, regarding:
· hazard identification, risk assessment, risk control;
· induction, information and training; and
· any proposed changes likely to affect their health or safety arising from the dangerous
goods.
Consultation should take place as early as possible in planning the introduction of new or
modified tasks or procedures associated with the storage and handling of dangerous goods to
allow for changes arising from consultation to be incorporated. Consultative procedures
should allow enough time for the health and safety representatives to discuss the issue with
their designated work group employees and with you.
Techniques for organising consultation
Effective consultation depends on communication – that is, understanding the people being
consulted and providing them with adequate information in a format appropriate to their
needs, to enable them to have informed views. The process used for consultation should
consider the needs of non-English speaking background health and safety representatives and
employees. Guidance on techniques for consultation in multilingual workplaces is provided in
the Code of Practice for Provision of Occupational Health and Safety Information in
Languages other than English.
6 An occupier is defined in the Dangerous Goods Act 1985. An occupier, in relation to any premises
(other than licensed premises that are a vehicle or boat), includes a person who—
(a) is the owner of the premises;
(b) exercises control at the premises under a mortgage, lease or franchise; or
(c) is normally or occasionally in charge of or exercising control or supervision at the premises as a
manager or employee or in any other capacity.
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15. Material Safety Data Sheets
15.1 Obtaining an MSDS
The Regulations require you to obtain the current version of the MSDS from the manufacturer
or first supplier on or before the first time the dangerous goods are supplied.
Generic MSDS are not acceptable.7 You may use commercially available MSDS databases
provided they contain the manufacturer’s or first supplier’s current MSDS. You need to
ensure that the MSDS obtained from such a database is the authorised version prepared by the
manufacturer or first supplier.
It is good practice to ask for a current copy of the MSDS before the dangerous goods are first
supplied, as this will enable you to begin planning for its safe use. Manufacturers, first
suppliers and suppliers have an obligation to provide you with a copy on request.
If an MSDS is not made available, you should ask the manufacturer, first supplier or supplier
whether the goods have been determined to be dangerous goods according to the Regulations.
If the supplier informs you that the goods are not dangerous goods, it is advisable to obtain
written confirmation.
If you are not satisfied with the MSDS provided, raise your concerns with the manufacturer or
first supplier. The same dangerous goods may also be available from a manufacturer or first
supplier who does provide an adequate MSDS.
When is an MSDS not required?
If you are a retailer or retail warehouse operator, you are not required to obtain MSDS for
dangerous goods stored and handled at the retail outlet in consumer packages that are
intended for retail sale. An MSDS is also not required for any dangerous goods in transit on
the premises.8 However, for those dangerous goods for which an MSDS has not been
obtained, you must have alternative relevant health and safety information readily accessible.
This information will enable employees and emergency services authority personnel to deal
with incidents such as spillages and damaged consumer packages.
Note that if the consumer package is opened or used at the retail outlet, an MSDS is required.
15.2 Providing access to MSDS
The MSDS must be readily accessible to all employees, other person on the premises and
emergency services authority personnel.
7 A generic MSDS is one that applies to a class of dangerous goods or a product but has not been prepared
specifically for the manufacturer’s product. Generic MSDS may be used as supplementary information or
wherever the Regulations impose duties to have “other information” available.
8 “Dangerous goods in transit” means dangerous goods that –
(a) are supplied to premises in containers that are not opened at the premises; and
(b) are not used at the premises; and
(c) are kept at the premises for a period of not more than 5 consecutive days.
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Copies of MSDS should be kept in a convenient location at the premises where the dangerous
goods are stored and handled. Make sure that all relevant personnel on the premises know
where to find the MSDS. You should also provide your employees with information or
training on the purpose of MSDS and how to use them effectively. (See section 28 on
information, instruction and training).
MSDS may be provided in a number of ways including:
· hard copy;
· microfiche; and
· computerised MSDS databases.
In each case, you should ensure that any storage or retrieval equipment is kept in good
working order and all relevant people know how to access the information.
15.3 Ensuring that information in the MSDS is not altered
You must not alter information in an MSDS prepared by the manufacturer or first supplier.
Additional information may be appended to the MSDS, but it must be marked clearly to
indicate that it is not part of the original. Similarly, you may re-format or summarise the
information contained in the MSDS, as long as it is appended to the original and clearly
marked as a reformatted version.
16. Register of dangerous goods
You are required to keep a register for dangerous goods kept at the premises.
The register is simply a list of the product names of all dangerous goods stored and handled in
the workplace accompanied, where required, by the current MSDS for each of these
dangerous goods. If you are required to keep a register by the Occupational Health and Safety
(Hazardous Substances) Regulations 1999 you may combine that register with one required
by the Storage and Handling Regulations.
The only dangerous goods that do not have to be included in the register are:
· dangerous goods in packages of a size that do not have to be marked under the ADG Code;
and
· dangerous goods in transit.
The register must be maintained to ensure it is current. Update the register when:
· new dangerous goods are introduced to the workplace;
· the use of existing dangerous goods are discontinued; and
· the manufacturer, first supplier or supplier provides a revised MSDS.
Since manufacturers or first suppliers are required to review, and where necessary, revise
MSDS at least every 5 years, all MSDS in the register or otherwise accessible in the
workplace should have issue dates within the last 5 years.
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If the use of a dangerous good is to be permanently discontinued, you should remove it from
the register. Dangerous goods used periodically or seasonally do not need to be removed from
the register.
The register must be readily accessible to any employee at the premises and any other person
who is likely to be affected by the dangerous goods on the premises. Keep it in a central
location, or provide a copy of it to each work area.
Don’t confuse a register with a manifest. A manifest provides information to the fire brigade
in the event of an emergency while a register provides information to assist you in the
management of dangerous goods in your workplace. However, some of the information will
be duplicated in a register and manifest and you could combine them in one document.
17. Risk management
The Regulations require you to control risks associated with the storage and handling of
dangerous goods at a premises. To do this effectively you must identify the hazards that
contribute to the risks and assess the likelihood of those hazards causing injury or damage to
property.
Hazard identification and risk assessment can be simple and straightforward or highly
complex. For example, the storage of only one or two classes of dangerous goods at retail
outlets where handling is limited to placing the goods on shelving for display is a relatively
simple case and the hazard identification and risk assessments for the activity should be
simple.
A major warehouse handling a large range of dangerous goods or a chemical manufacturing
plant are likely to require detailed investigations of hazards and risks, involving people who
have specialist knowledge of:
· the dangerous goods;
· the processing of those goods; and
· the work practices employed in connection with dangerous goods.
17.1 How do I carry out a hazard identification and risk assessment
process?
The following step-by-step guide is intended to lead you through the hazard identification and
risk assessment process. It can be used at any premises where dangerous goods are stored or
handled. The flow diagram (Figure 3) provides a helpful summary of the process.
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Figure 3: Flow diagram
Decide who should be
involved
identify all the dangerous
goods
Identify hazards in storage
and handling processes
Risk assessment
Are there
risks?
Record results
of the risk
assessment
Record results
of the risk
assessment
Risk
control
Review risk
assessment
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Uncertain