Safe use of chemicals

The main legislation concerned with safety in the use of chemicals The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) which is aimed at reducing the likelihood of ill-health that can result from lax ways of handling and using some of the nastier chemical substances. The main requirements of these Regulations are summarized below. 

Places duties on the employer to ensure that chemicals are used and handled in such a way that no one, whether an employee or not, is put at risk. 

Where there are 5 or more employees the risk assessment must be recorded together with the action taken. See also Section 3.4. 

Techniques for protecting employees from exposure to include  

Where there is a carcinogen, take the following precautions  

Employees must use protective equipment properly, return it to its store and report any defects or damage found. 

All equipment and plant provided in compliance must be kept in an efficient state, effective working order and good repair. Engineering controls must be examined and tested as follows  

A record must be kept of the examinations and tests and held for five years. 

Others employed to do the same work must be given the same information instruction and training. 

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Many guidelines for safe use of chemicals are available in the literamre [27,28]. 

The two main roles of the IPCS are to establish the scientific basis for the safe use of chemicals and to strengthen national capabilities and capacities for chemical safety. 

The Guides are intended for occupational health services, and persons in ministries, governmental agencies, industry, and trade unions who are involved in the safe use of chemicals and the avoidance of environmental health hazards. 

Use of POPs (production sites) The management on the use (production sites) of hazardous chemicals shall observe the Regulations on Labor Protection in Workplaces Where Toxic Substances Are Used promulgated in 2002, the Provisions on the Safe Use of Chemicals in Workplaces... 

OSIRIS is another EC project fully dedicated to the REACH legislation [30]. The purposes of OSIRIS are broader than the simple QSAR models. OSIRIS wants to develop an intelligent testing strategy capable to assess whether the data for a certain chemical compound is sufficient or not. We have mentioned that the REACH legislation requires that sufficient data should be provided for a safe use of chemical compounds on the European market. On the basis of the different... 

Every person is individually and personally responsible for the safe use of chemicals. 

How much do you know about the safe use of chemical products Would you know what to do if an accidental spill occurred Would the members of your family, or people in your community, know what to do ... 

Improved safe use of chemicals with respect to human health and the environment, including increased transparency... 

To organise a safe use of chemicals. To some extent, public institutions regulate the use of particularly hazardous chemicals in more detail. In other cases, regulations are limited to general requirements for employing a cautionary approach. 

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