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Issue #8 | February 2016 Risk Management Technologies Pty Ltd. info@rmt.com.au www.chemalert.com

Non Compliant SDSs, a Growing Trend. 2

Placarding Pitfalls under WHS 2

ChemAlert Public Training 2

Hazardous Classification Review 3

Meeting Your Obligations in a Tough Economy 4

HSIS Update 4

5 of the Worlds Most Dangerous Chemicals 4

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

New ChemAlert Service Pack 2 By Brad Cobb, ChemAlert Product & Process Owner

Responding to client feedback in relation to the onerous task of relabelling chemical containers

according to GHS, our developers are working quickly to release a second ChemAlert v4.1 Service Pack.

This enhancement pack is expected to be released early March and contains three main labelling enhancements, building on the work done in Service Pack 1.

The main enhancements provided by Service Pack 2 are:

1 The ability to batch print one chemical per label spot (as opposed to an entire sheet of one product). 

2 Functionality for ChemAlert to automatically determine the best label size based on Stock Holding container size. 

3 A new label size of 6 per page, designed for those containers where 4 per page just doesn’t quite fit nicely.

We continue to appreciate great feedback and hope this small release will assist clients who have substantial relabelling requirements.

Click above to navigate directly to articles

The GHS is Coming. Are you Ready?By John Mavromatis, ChemAlert Account Manager.

As you may be aware, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) will supersede the existing Risk/Safety system as the only chemical classification and labelling system accepted for workplace hazardous chemicals on the 1st of January, 2017.

The GHS system is mandated for all States and Territories except Victoria, WA and the ACT. Although Victoria has decided not to adopt the WHS, and Western Australia has indicated that it will adopt the WHS pending completion of the WHS Mines Regulations, we have received confirmation from regulatory bodies that SDSs and labels classified in accordance with the GHS are acceptable for use in all states.

What does this mean for you?From the 1st of January 2017, suppliers and manufacturers of Hazardous Chemicals should be providing SDSs in GHS format to workplaces located within the relevant WHS jurisdictions. Our SDS updating team is continuously contacting manufacturers for GHS equivalent SDSs, and informing them of their obligation to do so. You can assist us in our ongoing efforts by requesting GHS SDSs from your suppliers if they supply you with a non-GHS SDS.

What is RMT doing to assist you?We are contacting suppliers for whom we author SDSs, to commence the process of upgrading their existing Risk/Safety SDSs to the GHS format. Ideally, we would like to have all RMT authored SDSs converted to GHS format by the 30th of June this year. Additionally, for all new requests for Risk/Safety SDS’s authoring requests, we are strongly recommending they be authored in GHS format instead.

RMT has been reviewing all products on ChemAlert over the last few years, in anticipation of the incoming GHS changeover. GHS classifications are present on the majority of labels for products in ChemAlert, bridging the gap between now and when suppliers update their SDSs and labels.

Have Any Concerns?If you’re worried you’re not equipped to handle the transition to GHS, please contact your Account Manager now or email us on ChemAlert@rmt.com.au. We are here to help.

New Avery Label Stock Recently Avery changed the label codes and dimensions of their product range which affects the ChemAlert labels.

We are incorporating the new label sizes into ChemAlert and will be releasing a service pack as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we recommend using up any existing Avery labels or where possible, sourcing alternative labels.

RMT ChemAlert Newsletter | Issue #8 | February 2016

On March 23 and 24 the Novotel Langley Hotel in Perth will play host to the 2nd annual Dangerous Goods Conference,

at which our very own Chief Scientific Officer, Vince Pacecca will be one of the guest speakers. At 4:15pm on the 23rd, Vince will be speaking on the Pitfalls of Placarding under WHS regulations.

Under the previous regulations, placarding was solely based on the Dangerous Goods (DG) classifications as per the Australian Dangerous Goods (ADG) Code. Under the new Work, Health and Safety (WHS) regulations, placarding requirements are calculated under the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) of classification, but signage remains based on DG diamonds.

There are a significant number of instances where a hazardous chemical’s GHS classification does not align with its corresponding DG classification. These result in a concerning outcome from a placarding perspective. Of concern, situations where hazardous chemicals are placarded for transport but not for storage (or vice versa). This may lead to potentially dangerous situations for workers and emergency services personnel.

By Wendy Martin, Training Coordinator

RMT will be running another series of public training courses around Australia in March and April. This will be the 2 day comprehensive course for $850 per person.

The schedule of dates and locations is shown here. Please go to the website to enrol: www.chemalert.com

* Prices quoted are exclusive of 10% GST.

Date Location

15–16 March 2016 Brisbane

21–22 March 2016 Perth

5–6 April 2016 Sydney

7–8 April 2016 Melbourne

14–15 April 2016 Perth

19–20 April 2016 Adelaide

ChemAlert Public Training14-15 MARCH 2016SKYCITY AUCKLAND

New Zealanders come and see us at the ChemAlert stand at Safety 360 in Auckland. Ask for a demo of Chemalert v4.1, pick our brains about chemical safety or just swing by and enter the competition to

Win an iPad Mini!

Non Compliant SDSs: A Growing Trend.By Sonja Simpson, SDS Services Team Leader/Scientific Advisor.

A growing trend has been identified whereby manufacturers are listing vague or non-compliant Hazard Classifications on their SDSs.

All SDSs in Australia are required to have a Hazard Statement in Section 2 of the SDS, stating whether the product is Hazardous and/or Dangerous. If the product is Hazardous, then the relevant GHS classifications should be listed (or Risk and Safety phrases are still acceptable up to the end of this year).

An example of this non-compliance has been identified with laboratory chemical manufacturer, Sigma-Aldrich, who have replaced the GHS classifications on some of their SDSs with a statement of “Restricted to Professional Users”.

This statement in place of Hazard Classifications does not comply with the requirements set out in the Code of Practice. We have contacted Sigma for clarification as to the reasons for this statement. We have also contacted Safe Work Australia for advice on the use of this statement.

In the meantime, any SDSs that are found to have this statement are being assessed in ChemAlert and allocated GHS classifications as per Australian regulations (HSIS), the European (Sigma) SDS and the Sigma website.

As we identify other instances, we will contact the responsible manufacturer and, hopefully, rectify the situation.

Fluka - 34805 Page 1 of 8

SIGMA-ALDRICH sigma-aldrich.com SAFETY DATA SHEET

Version 5.21

Revision Date 21.10.2015

Print Date 13.01.2016

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBSTANCE/MIXTURE AND OF THE COMPANY/UNDERTAKING

1.1 Product identifiers Product name : HYDRANAL®-Composite 5

Product Number : 34805 Brand : Fluka

1.2 Other means of identification

No data available

1.3 Relevant identified uses of the substance or mixture and uses advised against

Identified uses : Laboratory chemicals, Manufacture of substances

1.4 Details of the supplier of the safety data sheet

Company : Sigma-Aldrich Pty. Ltd. 12 Anella Avenue CASTLE HILL NSW 2154 AUSTRALIA

Telephone : +61 2 9841 0555 (1800 800 097) Fax : +61 2 9841 0500 (1800 800 096)

1.5 Emergency telephone number

Emergency Phone # : Free call (24/7): 1800 448 465 Int'l (24/7) : +44 (0) 8701 906777

2. HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION

2.1 GHS Classification

Restricted to professional users.

2.3 Other hazards - none 3. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS

3.2 Mixtures Component Classification Concentration

Iodine CAS-No.

EC-No. Index-No.

7553-56-2 231-442-4 053-001-00-3

Acute Tox. 4; 2; STOT SE 3; STOT RE 1; Aquatic Acute 1; H312, H315, H319, H332, H335, H372, H400

>= 1 - < 10 %

Imidazole CAS-No. 288-32-4 Acute Tox. 4; Skin Corr. 1; >= 1 - < 10 %

Fluka - 34805 Page 1 of 8

SIGMA-ALDRICH sigma-aldrich.com SAFETY DATA SHEET

Version 5.21

Revision Date 21.10.2015

Print Date 13.01.2016

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBSTANCE/MIXTURE AND OF THE COMPANY/UNDERTAKING

1.1 Product identifiers Product name : HYDRANAL®-Composite 5

Product Number : 34805 Brand : Fluka

1.2 Other means of identification

No data available

1.3 Relevant identified uses of the substance or mixture and uses advised against

Identified uses : Laboratory chemicals, Manufacture of substances

1.4 Details of the supplier of the safety data sheet

Company : Sigma-Aldrich Pty. Ltd. 12 Anella Avenue CASTLE HILL NSW 2154 AUSTRALIA

Telephone : +61 2 9841 0555 (1800 800 097) Fax : +61 2 9841 0500 (1800 800 096)

1.5 Emergency telephone number

Emergency Phone # : Free call (24/7): 1800 448 465 Int'l (24/7) : +44 (0) 8701 906777

2. HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION

2.1 GHS Classification

Restricted to professional users.

2.3 Other hazards - none 3. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS

3.2 Mixtures Component Classification Concentration

Iodine CAS-No.

EC-No. Index-No.

7553-56-2 231-442-4 053-001-00-3

Acute Tox. 4; 2; STOT SE 3; STOT RE 1; Aquatic Acute 1; H312, H315, H319, H332, H335, H372, H400

>= 1 - < 10 %

Imidazole CAS-No. 288-32-4 Acute Tox. 4; Skin Corr. 1; >= 1 - < 10 %

Placarding Pitfalls Under

WHS

Page 2 of 4

RMT ChemAlert Newsletter | Issue #8 | February 2016

Hazardous Classification ReviewBy Vince Pacecca, Chief Scientific Officer

You may have received an email from RMT in December 2015 notifying you of the update to the Hazardous Chemical Information List (HCIL). The list has been updated to incorporate assessments made by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS). These changes reflect the outcomes of human health assessments made as part of tranches one through seven of the Inventory Multi-tiered Assessment and Prioritisation (IMAP) framework. This update includes 296 new entries and 145 amendments to existing entries (Source: Safe Work Australia).

Whereas formerly Australia often aligned with Europe with regard to

chemical classifications, the NICNAS IMAP Tier II – Human Health Assessments have broken that alignment for many of the updated chemicals. Whilst it is fantastic that these reviews have been conducted, with clear and concise information made available on the NICNAS website, unfortunately the updates add to an already unharmonised system of classifications around the world.

Styrene (100-42-5 ) is a perfect example of a chemical assessed differently around the world. Interestingly, Styrene had been assessed in 2014 (inserted 1st April 2015) in Europe (CLP Regulation) where it was reclassified to toxic for reproduction category 2 (H361) and

specific target organ toxicity - repeated exposure, category 1 (H372). The Australian assessment did not consider the reproductive classification to apply, and assigned specific target organ toxicity - repeated exposure, category 2 (H373). In addition, the NICNAS assessment did include the additional classifications of carcinogen category 2 (H351) and respiratory irritant (H335).

We are talking about the same chemical, are we not? In an ideal ‘world’ the decision makers would get together and actually ‘Harmonise’ the classifications, however sadly it appears that the classifications are becoming less harmonised each time the chemicals are reviewed.

Table 1: Styrene assessment around the worldAustralia Europe New Zealand Japan Hazard Statement

H226 H226 H226 H226 Flammable Liquid- - - H304 May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways

H315 H315 H315 H315 Causes skin irritationH319 H319 H319 H319 Causes serious eye irritation

- - H331 - Toxic if inhaledH332 H332 - H332 Harmful if inhaled

- - H302 - Harmful if swallowed- - - H303 May be harmful if swallowed

H335 - - H335 May cause respiratory irritation- - H341 H341 Suspected of causing genetic defects

H351 - H351 H351 Suspected of causing cancer- - - H360 (1B) May damage fertility or the unborn child- H361d H361 - Suspected of damaging the unborn child- - - H370 Causes damage to organs – Single Cat 1

H372 H372 H372 Causes damage to organs – Repeated Cat 1H373 - - - Causes damage to organs – Repeated Cat 2

- - H400 - Very toxic to aquatic life- - - H401 Toxic to aquatic life

Here some other unusual differences in assessment where Australia and Europe are still aligned:

Table 2: Methanol assessment around the worldAustralia Europe New Zealand Japan Hazard Statement

H225 H225 H225 H225 Highly flammable LiquidH301 H301 H301 - Toxic if swallowed

- - - H303 May be harmful if swallowedH311 H311 H311 - Toxic in contact with skin

- - H319 Causes serious eye irritationH331 H331 H331 - Toxic if inhaled

- - - H335 May cause respiratory irritation- - - H336 May cause drowsiness or dizziness- - - H360 (1B) May damage fertility or the unborn child- - H361 - Suspected of damaging the unborn child

H370 H370 H370 H370 Causes damage to organs – Single Cat 1- - - H372 Causes damage to organs – Repeated Cat 1

Article continues overleaf…

Page 3 of 4

RMT ChemAlert Newsletter | Issue #8 | February 2016

Meeting Your Obligations in a Tough Economy.By John Mavromatis, ChemAlert Account Manager.

We are all aware of our requirements with regards to the Work Health and

Safety Regulations. In particular:

n A register of hazardous chemicals used, handled or stored at the workplace must be prepared, kept and maintained to ensure the information in the register is up to date.

n Risks to health and safety associated with using, handling, generating or storing must be managed and periodically reviewed.

In the current economic climate, resource and budget restrictions have made conducting regular audits difficult. However, audits should be done at least

annually in order to ensure your Register is maintained. Whether conducted internally or externally, it is recommended the data then be captured in ChemAlert to ensure the most up to date SDSs match your register records.

In order to better meet our clients’ needs and constraints, we have made changes to the pricing structure of our Auditing service with our daily rates now adjusted to provide even more competitive value.

Additionally, we now offer a 15% discount for those clients who have already utilised the service in the last 5 years. This will provide a great opportunity for our Auditors to follow up on previously recommended actions and provide more qualitative information.

Our auditing service now provides you with a list of your top 100 most hazardous/dangerous chemicals based on the severity of their health effects. If required, our qualified hygienists can also conduct risk assessments on these chemicals, and devise suitable control measures as required.

If you wish to find out more about our services, please contact your ChemAlert Account Manager or email us at chemalert@rmt.com.au .

Hazardous Classification Review continued…

Table 3: Ethylene Glycol assessment around the world

Australia Europe New Zealand Japan Hazard Statement

H302 H302 H302 - Harmful if swallowed

- - - H303 May be harmful if swallowed

- - - H316 Causes mild skin irritation

- - H319 - Causes serious eye irritation

- - - H320 Causes eye irritation

- - - H360 (1B)May damage fertility or the unborn child

- - H370Causes damage to organs – Single Cat 1

- H372 H372Causes damage to organs – Repeated Cat 1

Important Resources:NICNAS: www.nicnas.gov.au

Safe Work Australia – HCIL: hsis.safeworkaustralia.gov.au

New Zealand CCID: www.epa.govt.nz

Japan NITE: www.nite.go.jp

European ECHA: echa.europa.eu

HSIS UpdateChemAlert is currently working through solutions to handle the update to the Hazardous Chemical Information List.

Where SDSs are not authored by RMT and we therefore have no control over the information provided in them, we will be placing Alerts on any affected products. You can find Alerts in the Product Details of relevant products.

Where the SDSs are authored by RMT, we are working with the suppliers to update the Safety Data Sheets to reflect any new or amended classifications.

If you would like to know which of your Stock Register Products contain ingredients that have been affected by these changes, please contact casupport@rmt.com.au.

To ensure the information provided to you is correct and accurate, the team at ChemAlert will continue to use all available resources to monitor the ever-changing chemical classifications around the world as they arise.

CLIP OF THE MONTHVINCE’S

5 of the World’s Most

Dangerous Chemicals

Click the link below to watch this video as The Science Show takes a humorous look at some chemicals that will make you glad you don’t have them at your workplace.

They explode when you touch them. Even a millionth of a gram can kill you. They can even disable you with their horrifying smell.

Watch the video

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