by sheryl hoffmann, laboratory manager concordia college, sa shoffmann@concordia.sa.edu.au

WHS & GHS Update

By Sheryl Hoffmann, Laboratory ManagerConcordia College, SA

shoffmann@concordia.sa.edu.au

Commonwealth , ACT, NSW & Qld all implemented Work Health and Safety Act 2011  & Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 from 1 January 2012 Northern Territory      used slightly different name:Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 & Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations from 1 January 2012

Tasmania    Work Health and Safety Act 2012 from1 January 2013

WHS Update

South Australia     Work Health and Safety Bill 2011  still in parliament

Victoria Bill not yet introduced

Western Australia Bill not yet introduced

WHS Update

Introduced into parliament on 7 April 2011 Withdrawn Reintroduced 19 May 2011 Debated in lower house: 28 Sept, 19 Oct &

10 Nov 2011 Debated in upper house: 22 Nov & 29 Nov

2011, 16 Feb & 1 March 2012 Still not passed

SA

In SA’s we must still comply with:

OHSW Act (1986)OHSW Regulations (2010)& various Codes of Practice

but…

So where do we stand?

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE REGULATIONS 1995Declaration of Classified ChemicalsNOTICE is hereby given that, pursuant to Part 4 of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1995, I, Paul Holloway, Minister of Industrial Relations, do hereby declare that chemicals that are classified and labelled under the Globally Harmonised System Scheme Version 2 (GHS Scheme) comply with the Approved Code of Practice for the Labelling of Workplace Substances (the Code) in South Australia.Dated 3 May 2010.PAUL HOLLOWAY, Minister for Industrial Relations

SA Government Gazette, 6 May 2010

Bottles supplied with GHS Labels are OK

We can label bottles with GHS labels eg decanted bottles

So…

In SA we are still required to have a MSDS.

But the MSDS will not match the GHS labelled bottle!

So I recommend having a MSDS & a SDS.

No similar provision for SDS

Don’t panic - WAIT. Get organised first by understanding what is happening

Expect to run the 2 systems side by side for the next 5 years

Expect chaos & uncertainty for the next 5 years!

My recommendation…

Safety in your workplace

http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/SafetyInYourWorkplace/HazardousSubstancesAndDangerousGoods/Pages/HazardousSubstancesAndDangerousGoods.aspx

Worksafe Australia

If you received chemicals from a supplier that has a GHS labels, I recommend that you: use GHS compliant decanted labels for class sets

use old OHS&W labels for solutions you prepare from these chemicals

My recommendation…

Example

Conc. Hydrochloric AcidCauses severe skin burns and eye damage. May cause respiratory irritation. May be corrosive to metals.

Decanted GHS Label

Hazard statements & pictogram were copied from the large bottle.

Why …

Bottle Conc. Sulfuric Acid

Causes severe skin burns and eye damage.

Chemwatch

Conc Sulfuric Acid May intensify firer; oxidizer. May be corrosive to metals Causes

severe skin burns and eye damage. Fatal if inhaled. May

cause cancer

Chemwatch

2M Sulfuric Acid Harmful if inhaled. May cause

cancer. May be corrosive to metals Causes severe skin burns and eye

damage.

   Creative CommonsThis copyright work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Australia licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au/  In essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to Sheryl Hoffmann and abide by the other licence terms. Contact information:Sheryl HoffmannPhone: +61 8 8291 9325Fax: +61 8 8272 1463Email: shoffmann@conconcordia.sa.edu.au