ChemCARE offers preliminary site assessments to establish the status of compliance with health, safety and environmental protection regulations and to report on the integrity and effectiveness of the Safety and Environment Management System.
While such an "audit" helps determine priorities for action, it does not necessarily ensure adequate ongoing performance. Maintenance of acceptable performance requires a Safety and Environment Management System (SEMS) which covers all of the things n ecessary to achieve safety during the lifetime of an operation. The SEMS should integrate safety and environmental protection considerations throughout all activities, starting with process and facility design and extending through all phases of construction, work method design, operation, supervision, training, recording of responsibilities, consultation, maintenance (including maintenance of the design intent), emergency plans and preparedness, incident reporting/investigation/action plans, security and other elements.
The integration of "best practice" into the management regime is an important step towards international competitiveness. Best practice should extend to the management of occupational health, safety and environmental protection. It is recognised that an essential part of this regime is the practice of benchmarking and the establishing methods of recording financial and other gains. For this reason, safety and environmental protection need to be subjects included in the Total Quality Management and AS 9000 arrangements.
Risk management starts with hazard identification. Hazards may include chemical hazards, physical hazards and special hazards (location, adjacent environment or activities etc). The way in which the elimination or control of hazards is achieved, is part of the SEMS. A "seamless" join must exist between the responsibilities of individuals and organisational units carrying safety responsibilities. Serious incidents are often the result of responsibilities being poorly defined or assigned.
ChemCARE carried out contract work for Worksafe Australia to assist in the drafting of a national Standard for the control of Major Hazard Facilities. New regulations based on this Standard are expected to be gazetted during 1996. The associated Code of Practice has been out for public comment (closed 14th July, 1995) It is expected that the revised code will be endorsed by WorkSafe (NOHSC), in the first half of 1996.
ChemCARE can help you to develop an informative workplace chemical register, already required in some States and soon to be mandatory in NSW and Victoria. We have considerable experience in the assessment of the safety of work methods involving hazardous chemicals. Employers will be required to carry out workplace risk assessments associated with the use of chemical products. These obligations will be created by the suite of new regulations based on the Worksafe National Standards on Hazardous Substances, expected to be gazetted early 1996.
It is expected that access by emergency services to a site manifest, detailing dangerous goods storages, will be mandatory in all States, in the near future.
Operating under the registered business name "MSDS Material Safety Data Service", ChemCARE provides services in the drafting of MSDS for clients in compliance with the National Standard. The National Standard has become the basis of legal requirements in Queensland, all other States and Territories expected to gazette laws during 1995. The Regulations will include a requirement to make MSDS available at workplaces. The MSDS are expected to comply with the National standard.
To assist in the management of environmental impairment risks, ChemCARE has prepared assessment reports for clients with activities in such diverse fields as agricultural chemicals, epoxies, cement products, packaging and building materials, lead battery manufacture, rubber works, foundry, carpet manufacture, textile knitting and dye-house, transmission manufacture, in-place pipe lining, machinery manufacture, plastic master batch formulation, polymer fabric manufacture, pharmaceutical manufacture. Investigations have been conducted to examine land contamination on industrial sites.
Roland Churches of ChemCARE is accredited by the WorkCover Authority of NSW, as a Dangerous Goods consultant for all Classes except explosives and radioactive materials.
On 29 March, 1993, new NSW DG regulations became active. The regulations introduced the requirement to hold a current site licence for certain DG depots, namely depots for keeping above threshold quantities of Dangerous Goods of Class 6.1 (poisons) and Class 8 (corrosives). These requirements are additional to Regulations covering other classes of dangerous goods, such as certain compressed or cryogenic gases, flammable and combustable liquids, solids which are DG of class 4 and oxidising agents or organic peroxides of class 5.
Managers with a site responsibility, need to be sure that the site is correctly licenced for the storage of dangerous goods. A breach of the law may result in fines and bad publicity. Further, in the event of an incident related to DG, a claim for losses may be rejected by your underwriter, because Regulations were breached.
ChemCARE assists in the work of identifying, labelling, packaging and documentation of DG for transport.
ChemCARE also operates with the registered business name NICNAS (National Industrial Chemical Notification Advisory Service), to provide services in the preparation and submission of dossiers to Worksafe Australia for the notification of new chemicals and polymers. It is illegal to manufacture or import a new chemical without first obtaining an assessment certificate from Worksafe Australia, or to have obtained a Commercial Evaluation Permit to enable commercial trials to be carried out with the substance.