Welcome back to the hazardous substances update. 

• Training your staff and a new rule to keep hazardous substances training records 
• HASANZ register gets ready to launch
• Reducing ammonia leaks 
• New rules for storing toxic and corrosive substances 
• Asbestos found in Bunsen burner gauze mats
• Hazardous substance guidance and education products to help you
• Enforceable undertaking accepted from Airtech and NZ Hothouse
• New rules for some antifouling paints
• Staying up to date between newsletters with social media.

• the health risks and safety issues of the hazardous substances they work with
• how to safely use, handle, manufacture, store and dispose of the substances they work with
• the safe use of equipment, including personal protective equipment
• their responsibilities and actions to take in an emergency.

The HASANZ Register of Workplace Health and Safety Professionals opens for business on 27 July. It’s a one stop shop for businesses to find reliable, quality health and safety professional advice and services.

The HASANZ Register is business-centred so you can search for professionals to provide solutions to the problems you need help with – everything from asbestos disposal and noise monitoring to developing health and safety systems and policies. And the best part is it’s free to use!

We’ve recently received a number of notifications about leaks when ammonia is used as a refrigerant in factories.

Ammonia is a toxic and corrosive gas, which has the potential to cause death, severe permanent disability or life shortening illnesses.

We’ve put together a technical bulletin around the risks, safety measures and legal requirements for businesses that use ammonia as a refrigerant. The bulletin is relevant to anyone who has refrigeration equipment that uses ammonia as the refrigerant.

It’s important to check your plant and the controls you have in place to minimise the risk of an ammonia leak. 

If you have toxic or corrosive substances that are below the thresholds for needing to establish a hazardous substances location, there are new storage requirements that came into force on 1 June. 

These new storage requirements include things like making sure the storage area is secured from unauthorised access, water is available so someone can wash their hands and all storage and handling areas have sufficient ventilation. 

There’s also new requirements for storing toxic and corrosive substances on farms larger than 4 ha in size. The requirements include keeping the storage area for these substances at least 10 metres away from the farm house or other protected places. You must also make sure spills will be contained or you store toxic and corrosive substances in an area where a spill would not reach a protected place, waterways, or boundaries with other properties. 

Details about all the new requirements, including the thresholds for needing a hazardous substance location, are given in our quick guide at the bottom of our Storing hazardous substances webpage. This guide explains the technical terms used in this article too. 

Recently, several types of Bunsen burner gauze mats have been confirmed to contain asbestos. 
 
The asbestos is part of the clay used in the ceramic centre of the mat. As the mats are bonded products, the risk of exposure to asbestos is considered to be low as long as the mat is in good condition.
 
The mats should be carefully disposed of by wearing gloves and a P2 mask, double-bagging the mat, gloves and mask in heavy-duty plastic bags, twisting and securing the top of the bag and marking it as asbestos waste. After this, contact your supplier for further advice.
 
Read more on the Government product recall page – search for Bunsen. 

We have accepted enforceable undertakings from air conditioning and refrigeration company Airtech Limited, and vegetable packaging and marketing company NZ Hot House Limited, following an incident in July 2016 where workers were unnecessarily exposed to carbon monoxide.

Two Airtech workers were working to clean an evaporator unit in a chiller; they were using an LPG forklift operated by an NZ Hot House worker. After two hours working on the unit, an Airtech worker began to feel unwell and stopped working.

The other Airtech worker and the forklift operator continued working, before they both fainted as a result of carbon monoxide exposure. 

We’ve got lots of information and tools on our website to help you understand how to safely manage hazardous substances at work. 

You can also check out the hazardous substances toolbox for more information which includes the hazardous substances calculator that you can use to develop an inventory of your substances and work out the key safety controls you need in your workplace. 

Some anti-fouling paints can no longer be imported or manufactured in New Zealand as the Environmental Protection Authority determined they are too toxic to marine life.

These paints are slow-release toxic coatings, and when numbers of boats are moored together in marinas and harbours, the substances build up to concentrations that can affect people and the environment.

Check out EPA’s website for more information.

Check out what we're doing on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram channels to stay in the loop with health and safety between updates.