New hazardous chemical register template
Safe Work Australia (SWA) has produced new templates to assist workplaces when putting together their hazardous chemical registers and manifests.
Workplaces with hazardous chemicals need to keep:
- a register for use by workers
- where one or more hazardous chemicals exceeds a manifest quantity (schedule 11 of the WHS Regulation), a manifest primarily for use by emergency responders.
The layout and content for hazardous chemical registers and manifests can be confusing for the uninitiated and SWA's templates can assist with this. The new resources include tools that can be used to prepare hazardous chemical registers, manifests and site plans.
The material was developed in consultation with representatives from work health and safety regulators, unions and industry groups.
A hazardous chemical register is a list of all hazardous chemicals stored, handled or used at a workplace - the safety data sheets of the hazardous chemicals must be included with the register. The register must be readily accessible to all workers involved in the use, storage and handling of the hazardous chemicals at the workplace.
The register must be kept in a format that is readily accessible to workers. Electronic registers may be suitable at workplaces where workers have access to a computer and know how to access the register. Otherwise hard copy registers must be kept.
Regulations require all hazardous chemicals that are stored, handled or used at a workplace to be listed on the register except where they are:
- in-transit (not used in the workplace and are not kept in the workplace for more than five consecutive days), or
- consumer products (packed primarily for use by a household consumer and used in the workplace in a way that is consistent with normal household use).
Chemicals that are not classified as hazardous do not need to be included on the register. The register template can also be amended to include additional information, such as:
- dates chemicals arrived on worksite,
- any codes or numbers used to identify chemicals at your workplace,
- information about the chemicals' hazard of the chemicals (such as GHS and Dangerous Goods Classes)
- the intended use of the chemical at the workplace.
Safe Work Australia's templates for hazardous chemicals can be found at:
Further information
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland also has a range of hazardous chemical resources.