Health Professionals > Endoscope Reprocessing

3.3 Hazardous Substances

Hazardous substances are chemicals and other substances that can cause injury, illness or disease. The health effects may be acute or chronic.

Workplace health and safety regulations exist in each State or Territory to protect against exposure to hazardous substances at the workplace. You should notify workplace health and safety personnel at your workplace if you suspect that exposure to a hazardous substance is causing health effects.

In this section the examples used will be for glutaraldehyde but the same principles apply for all hazardous substances. A great deal of information about glutaraldehyde is available at the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme NICNAS website.

The manufacturer or importer of a substance is responsible for determining whether or not it is hazardous. A substance is deemed hazardous if:

it is listed on the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) List of Designated Hazardous Substances
it meets the criteria in the ASCC Approved Criteria for Classifying Hazardous Substances (then scroll down to Hazardous Substances)

If a substance does not meet either of these criteria and you consider that it is causing adverse health effects in your workplace then the avenues for the investigation and reporting of this are:

supervisor
workplace health and safety representative
workplace health and safety officer
state/territory workplace health and safety department
ASCC

Workplace health and safety regulations exist in each State or Territory for hazardous substances. These regulations place duties on people including suppliers, manufacturers and employers for hazardous substances. Hazardous substances regulations differ between each State or Territory, and therefore the following discussion only provides an overview of the legislation. You should refer to the regulations in your particular State or Territory to find out what its specific requirements are.

Try to locate the hazardous substances regulations that cover your workplace. A good place to start is your State or Territory workplace health and safety website.

Suppliers of hazardous substances must:

produce a current Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each hazardous substance they supply
provide the MSDS to the purchaser at least the first time that the substance is supplied and when the MSDS is amended or revised
label the substance in accordance with the regulations

The employer is required to:

obtain a current MSDS for all hazardous substances used in the workplace
keep a register that includes a list of all hazardous substances used in the workplace and the current MSDS for each one
ensure that all containers of hazardous substances are appropriately labelled
- if a hazardous substance is decanted from its original container into a second container this must also be appropriately labelled with the product name and relevant risk phrases and safety phrases as they appear on the original container's label e.g. 'R36 Irritating to eyes', 'R38 Irritating to skin'
- conduct and keep records of a risk assessment
- conduct and keep records of environmental monitoring and health surveillance if indicated by the risk assessment
- provide and keep records of induction and on-going training

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MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET (MSDS)

An MSDS provides information about the hazardous substance that will assist with the risk assessment. It contains information about the substance such as:

a statement indicating whether it has been classified as hazardous to health in accordance with ASCC criteria
the contents
what it should be used for and how to use it safely
its health effects
first aid instructions
advice about safe storage and handling

Find the MSDS for the biocide used in your work area.

The information you need about any hazardous substances used in your workplace is:

the ways in which the substance enters the body, e.g., skin absorption, inhalation or ingestion
what the acute and chronic health effects are
the ASCC/NOHSC exposure standard for the substance
the recommended control measures

You can find information about national exposure standards for hazardous substances at the ASCC website in the document Exposure Standards for Atmospheric Contaminants in the Occupational Environment (then scroll down to Atmospheric Contaminants).

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RISK ASSESSMENT OF A HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE

The risks involved in using the hazardous substance need to be assessed and managed following the process outlined previously in the risk management section.

In order to make an assessment of the risks involved in the use of this substance some more information is needed. As well as the information identified from the MSDS it is necessary to identify:

where and how the substance is used
who is likely to be at risk from exposure to the substance
the tasks which may cause exposure
whether monitoring or health surveillance is required
whether anyone is showing health effects from exposure
what controls are already in place, whether these controls are effective in managing the risk and if they should be reviewed

A risk assessment should be conducted and documented every 5 years or earlier if:

a work practice involving a hazardous substance is significantly changed
new information about the substance is available
health surveillance or monitoring shows control measures need to be reviewed
new or improved control measures are implemented

If you need to perform a risk assessment of any hazardous substances used in your workplace it would be advisable to contact your WH&S personnel who will provide you with some assistance.

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REPRODUCTIVE HAZARDS

Reproductive hazards can arise from hazards such as biological hazards and hazardous substances. Hazardous substances that are teratogenic are able to produce abnormalities in a developing foetus.

If you have any concerns regarding reproductive risks you should discuss this with WH&S personnel or your medical practitioner for advice on fitness to work with any hazardous substances whilst pregnant.

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Last Updated: 10 April 2008
Last Reviewed: 10 April 2009