23/10/2017 by Andrew Saunders
The new Hazardous Substances Regulations will start to impact your business from the 1st December 2017.
The new regulations put the onus for the understanding and control of Hazardous Substances in your workplace on the Person in Charge of a Business or Undertaking (PCBU): Are 'you' ready?
Here are a couple of the changes you need to be aware of:
There are now two pieces of legislation, two bureaucracies and two regulating controls on Hazardous Substances in New Zealand:
• The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) will administer the HSNO Act and will set rules and controls for Hazardous Substances through new Notices
• Worksafe will administer the HSW Act and will set rules and controls for Hazardous Substances through the new Regulations
Table 1: Roles and responsibilities for the upcoming controls on Hazardous Substances
|
Hazardous substance rules to protect |
Hazardous substance rules to protect the |
Hazardous substance rules at the |
Hazardous substance rules to protect |
|
people from workplaceactivities |
environment and for disposal in workplaces |
top of the supply-chain |
people and the environment in non-workplaces |
|
Set under HSWA Act |
Set under HSNO Act |
Set under HSNO Act |
Set under HSNO Act |
|
Implemented by WorkSafe |
implemented by EPA |
implemented by EPA |
implemented by EPA |
|
enforced by WorkSafe |
enforced by WorkSafe |
enforced by EPA |
Enforced by Councils |
Note that the EPA now has powers of enforcement. This is new. The EPA will not issue notices regarding workplace rules. Theirs are called 'instructions' and follow a different process.
What will this mean for you?
If you import or manufacture Hazardous Substances you need to engage with both regulators.
If you just purchase Hazardous Substances make sure your substance are provided with a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) evidencing an EPA Approval Number compliant to the new Notices and comply to the new Hazardous Substances Regulations.
You need to be aware the EPA covers all areas for class 9 substances and these may now conflict with the WorkSafe regulations – i.e. Diesel has different secondary containment requirements under its 3.1D classification than it does under its 9.1B classification. There may be different controls regarding hazardous substances in workplaces, regulated by WorkSafe, and non-workplaces, regulated by the EPA i.e. the controls on the storage of LPG differ between workplaces and non-workplaces.