What’s dangerous and what’s hazardous?
ONE OF South Africa’s best kept secrets seems to be the legislation relating to the use, storage and transport of chemicals, in the view of dangerous goods specialist Les Fisher.
Both the terms “dangerous” or “hazardous” tend to be used and that is where the problem lies, he says.
“The first question to be addressed is dangerous, or hazardous, for what? For use in a factory, in an end product, for transport or for storage? Each of these presents different problems and different yardsticks are required.
For a better understanding it’s also important to clarify the difference between a substance and a preparation, he adds. A substance is a specific chemical and a preparation is a mixture. The hazards of substances is defined but that of preparations must be measured using a calculation based on the content of individual substances in the preparation.
The next clarification is between hazardous for use and dangerous for transport. Here the main difference lies in chronic toxicity, effects caused by long term or multiple exposures, as against acute toxicity, immediate effects. In the case of transport the likelihood of direct contact is much reduced and chronic toxicity can be considered less of a problem than acute as the exposure, except in the case of a spill, should be minimal.
With transportation, the need to ensure it is packaged properly is of great importance, says Fisher. The greater the danger the greater the need to pack it securely. SANS 10228 classifies the content and packing and labelling is covered by SANS 10229
When it comes to usage the only consideration is the chemical itself, he says. And the hazards are defined in SANS 10265 using a listing originally generated in the EC and known as the Approved Supply List. There is a second list, which also needs to be taken into account, and this covers occupational exposure levels. This will be found in the OHS Act.
Using this information the user can ensure that the worker is protected (OHS Act) by taking proper precautions. PPE is only considered as a secondary measure. “It must be noted that the manufacturer of a chemical can only warn the user in the form of an MSDS (industrial) or a label (domestic); the user must ensure that proper precautions are taken.”
