More than 150,000 businesses and workplaces in New Zealand use or store hazardous substances, and All Round Safety advise that if you own or manage a business that uses hazardous substances, then you must comply with all of the rules relating to the safe use and storage of Hazardous Substances. Worksafe have built the Hazardous Substances Toolbox to assist businesses in understanding what they need to do to comply with the rules, which is worth a look for any business owner concerned about legal compliance and safety best practice in relation to hazardous goods use and storage.
The Worksafe Hazardous Substances Toolbox provides a practical guide with reference material to work through five steps to safety, an emergency response flipchart, and a workbook with templates and instructions for completing an inventory (the first step in managing your substances). It also provides ‘Your Health Your Future’ and ‘Know the Hazards’ posters for your workplace, the HSNO calculator to work out what key HSNO controls you need to have in place, and animated videos to help you train your staff to work safely with hazardous substances.
Worksafe have also developed a website with information specifically tailored to industries that are frequent users of dangerous, flammable, toxic, and hazardous goods. Once you have taken an inventory of the HSNO substances in use in your business and developed a plan for the safe use and storage you will need to purchase appropriate storage cabinets that meet the required standards. All Round Safety have a great range of all of the dangerous goods cabinets you need.
Every business must name a person in charge to manage the hazardous substances stored and/or in use at their premises. The person in charge may be the owner of the site, but in some cases it can be the landlord or building manager, particularly where there is a sub-lease. The hazardous substances regulations lay out clear responsibilities for the person in charge, who must identify all hazardous substances present and maintain a hazardous substances inventory.
They also need to make certain that people handling the substances are trained or supervised, ensure information is readily available to the people handling the substance in the form of labels, safety data sheets and signs, and ensure that emergency arrangements are in place to deal with any potential emergency and
obtain and keep up to date all necessary test certificates, and to find out more wet weather gear NZ, safety helmet and bib overalls please go to https://www.allroundsafety.co.nz .
