How is Australian industry dealing with the Globally Harmonized System GHS transition at workplace?

Workplace environment of the chemical industrial sector is at the present in the process of developing a new National Standard and Code of Practice which will be the foundation for workplace regulations in each of the Australian, State and Territory governments. The code which is in consistency with the GHS Regulation will provide classification criteria and hazard communication elements for chemicals that are hazardous to the environment, in addition to the health and physical hazards. However, a full performance of the GHS would require the provision of appropriate data on labels and SDSs where a chemical is classified as an environmental hazard.

As stated in the National Standard and Code of Practice: “The objectives of this National Standard are to protect the health and safety of persons and to prevent damage to property and the environment from the hazards and risks associated with chemical substances, mixtures and articles handled in the course of undertaking work.”

The National Standard and Code of Practice in Australia period began on July 31st of 2009. The 120 page document included a draft copy of National Standard and Code of Practice for the Preparation of Safety Data Sheets. The following GHS hazard classes and categories have been set outside the scope of the National Standard and therefore it is not mandatory to include information relating to these hazards in a Safety Data Sheet document. The classes are as follows:

• Acute toxicity – oral – category 5
• Acute toxicity – dermal – category 5
• Acute toxicity – inhalation – category 5
• Skin corrosion/irritation – category 3
• Serious eye damage/eye irritation – category 2B
• Aspiration hazard – category 2
• Flammable gas – category 2
• Flammable liquid – category 4
• Acute hazard to the aquatic environment – categories 1, 2 and 3
• Chronic hazard to the aquatic environment – categories 1, 2, 3 and 4

Some of the new rules and laws of this document may present obstacles and challenges to the Material Safety Data Sheet authors who are trying to compose an MSDS document based on the new GHS Regulation which is composed of multi-jurisdictional MSDSs/SDSs, because some of the classes and categories are used in other countries and some aren’t. An example of such challenges is a case where some overseas authorities may require an SDS for chemicals which present a hazard but are classified as not hazardous in Australia. In such cases, enough information has been provided concerning these hazards which have been included in the Code of Practice to help prepare an SDS in order to comply with the overseas requirements where the hazardous chemicals may be regulated.