I recently has the privilege of partaking in a workshop session with Department of Labour Inspectors specifically focussing on Crystalline Silica in Industry.

These inspectors are increaseing their knowledge base on hazardoucs materials (hazardous chemical substabces) and are going to make a real difference in industry when they perform their blitz inspections.

What surprised and schocked me was the feedback that i received from them regarding inspections in the construction industry.

Many sites that have been visited in the past 3 years have no records of Occupational Health Risk Assessments being done nor do they have any monitoring reports for Occupational Hygiene Stressors. Now the scary part comes in where many of the Safety Coordinators were not aware that Silica exposure was a health risk on their site and that it should be monitored bi-annually and reported to the Depatment of Labour.

This tells me that the Hazardous Chemcial Substances Regulations are not well known and chemical management onsite not practiced.

This forms a very large part of the work we do as Occupational Hygienists to assist industry in complying with the regulations. What I would like to know from you all as field experts working on sites all day everyday is what type of tools do you need to improve your management of hazardous materials?

We constantly try to devlop manangement systems that are practical and easy to use on all sites to allow for effective communication of chemical hazards as well as strict management of these materials on and around site. Obviously though, through this feedback from the Department of Labour there is much room for improvement here.

I feel that the management of hazardous chemcial substances is the place where all SHE professionals need to be involved and would really like to hear your inputs