Have you completed or do you require a site chemical safety audit?
It’s not just what chemicals you have onsite, its what you are doing with them?
Sometimes the hazardous chemical is well controlled and its the less hazardous chemical or how its being used that creates the hazard.
Sometimes the engineering controls have not been implemented correctly which is just an expensive waste while also posing a hazard to persons onsite.
Q) Is there a comprehensive list of chemicals that are on site, by area and typical volumes involved?
The full chemical list onsite includes the chemicals you purchase, the chemicals or by-products you create as part of your process and the waste materials going off site.
Q) Have you got up to date and appropriate safety data sheets for every chemical on site?
Some aspects to consider are the form or state of the chemical i.e., is it solid, liquid or gaseous, an appropriate SDS must reflect the actual form of the chemical. Sometimes a safety data sheet is obtained for a corrosive which is 90% but the chemical is in fact 15% concentration, these, while having the same chemical name require separate data sheets from a safety perspective as different hazards may exist for both and therefore require different levels of control.
Q) Are your staff handling chemicals in a safe manner?
Have the SOPs been written with the chemical risk assessments taken into consideration, are the SOPs being followed, is PPE being worn when required and is it worn correctly?
Q) Do you know the hazards associated with the chemicals that are on site?
Outside of the general hazard classes such as corrosives and flammable etc. some chemicals have unusual and specific hazards that need to be taken into consideration.
Q) Have chemical risk assessments been completed for each chemical?
Chemical risk assessments must be completed by a competent person.
A chemical agent risk assessment (CARA) should cover how chemicals are stored onsite, transported to, around and off the site, how the chemicals are used and how they are handled as waste.
Competence is required to ensure correct decisions are made about when engineering controls are required, what types of controls may be required and ensuring they are implemented correctly and are a benefit and not a wasted cost.
A competent person is also required to help make decisions in relation to emergency occurrences that might occur onsite and personal protective equipment or respiratory protective equipment in terms of types and when and how they are worn.
Start with a site chemical safety audit which our highly trained and experienced staff can complete. The audit findings can then be used to help determine the best way forward to ensure safe management of chemicals on any type or size of site ranging from Pharmaceutical, Bio-technology, Food Technology, Semi-conductor, Foundry, Health Care (laboratories), Distribution in addition to General Manufacturing Engineering Workshops and varying sectors of the public services such as water treatment plants.
Services can include, chemical safety audit, chemical risk assessments, chemical awareness training, chemical spill training including SCBA and occupational hygiene monitoring when required.
All efforts are made to make training site specific where possible and is dependent on information gathered as part of site audit or provided in advance.
To help you safely manage your chemicals onsite we bring the different disciplines together of consultancy, training and occupational hygiene monitoring to identify the chemicals onsite, complete risk assessments, provide chemical awareness and spill training and then complete air quality monitoring where recommended to confirm a safe environment.
If you have any queries in relation to chemical safety onsite, please make contact, it is easy to start with a phone call and some guidance.