Walk into most workshops or site containers and you’ll find the same shelf. Tins of solvent years past their use-by date. A drum of form oil with no safety data sheet anywhere on site. Pool chlorine stored beside the fuel. Half the stock still in its cardboard boxes. Nobody planned that shelf. It built up over a few years.
That shelf is where hazardous chemicals compliance usually starts and stops. Chapter 7 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) asks a good deal more of it, and most of what it asks is practical: know what you have, store it so it can’t hurt anyone, and work out how each chemical is actually used before someone uses it.
What the Regulation requires
The duties below sit with the person conducting the business or undertaking (PCBU) at the workplace. Section numbers are from the Queensland Regulation.
| Duty | Section | What it looks like on the ground |
|---|---|---|
| Obtain the current safety data sheet (SDS) | s 344 | An SDS from the manufacturer, importer or supplier when the chemical is first supplied, and before anyone uses it |
| Keep a hazardous chemicals register | s 346 | A list of every hazardous chemical used, handled or stored, with its current SDS, kept up to date and readily accessible to workers and anyone else likely to be affected |
| Label containers | s 341, s 342 | Correct labels on every container, including anything decanted or transferred on site |
| Manifest, notification and placards | ss 347–350 | Required once quantities of Schedule 11 chemicals pass the manifest or placard thresholds |
| Manage the risks | s 351 | A risk assessment that considers the chemical’s hazardous properties, possible reactions, the nature of the work, and the plant and systems involved |
| Identify reaction risks | s 354 | Knowing which chemicals react with each other, and keeping chemicals away from food, drink and personal items |
| Control ignition sources | s 355 | No ignition source introduced into a hazardous area where fire or explosion is possible |
| Contain spills | s 357 | Spill containment wherever a liquid or solid could leak, designed so it doesn’t bring incompatible chemicals together |
| Protect from damage | s 358 | Storage located and protected so vehicles, forklifts and falling objects can’t hit it |
| Fire and emergency equipment | ss 359–360 | Firefighting and emergency equipment suited to the chemicals held |
| Emergency plan | s 361 | A plan for the workplace once any Schedule 11 chemical exceeds its manifest quantity |
| Review controls | s 352, s 38 | Controls reviewed when the SDS or register changes, after health monitoring results, and in the general circumstances in s 38 |
A consumer product used the way a householder would use it, in household quantities, generally doesn’t need an SDS or a register entry (s 344(4), s 346(4)). A 20 litre drum of the same product used daily in a workshop is a different matter.
Storage is where most of the problems are
The register tells you what you have. Storage is where the actual risk sits.
Out-of-date stock. This is what I find most often: products kept years past their use-by date, usually because nobody uses them any more and nobody has thrown them out. Some degrade as they age. Section 356 requires the PCBU to make sure a chemical doesn’t become unstable or decompose in a way that creates a new hazard or increases the risk. If a product isn’t being used, dispose of it properly and take it off the register.
No safety data sheet. A chemical on the shelf without a current SDS fails s 344 and leaves the register under s 346 incomplete. An old printout doesn’t solve it. Manufacturers must review their SDSs at least every five years (s 330(3)), so the copy in the folder may no longer be current.
Segregation. Oxidisers stored beside flammable liquids. Acids on the same shelf as alkalis. Pool chlorine next to fuel. Each of these breaches s 354 before anything has gone wrong, because the reaction risk was there to be identified. Section 357(2) adds a second test: a shared bund that lets two incompatible chemicals mix in a spill has created the hazard it was meant to contain.
Flammable liquids. Fuel, solvents, thinners and most aerosols are where the fire load is. AS 1940:2017 sets out storage and handling for flammable and combustible liquids: cabinets, bunding, separation distances and ventilation. Where several dangerous goods classes are stored together in packages, AS/NZS 3833:2007 deals with mixed classes.
Protection and access. A chemical store on a forklift route with no bollards fails s 358. A store that can only be reached by climbing over pallets is a manual handling problem as well as a spill waiting to happen.
Cardboard. Chemicals left in their shipping boxes add fuel to the store. In a fire, the packaging burns first and carries the fire to the containers. Unpack stock when it arrives, and keep cardboard and other combustibles out of the chemical store.
Use: the risk assessment that matters
A chemical risk assessment is worth doing only if it reflects how the chemical is used on your job. A generic form copied from the SDS doesn’t do that.
Start with the SDS. Section 2 gives the hazards, section 7 handling and storage, section 8 exposure controls and PPE, and section 10 stability and reactivity. Then look at the task:
- how much is used, and how often
- how it’s applied, because spraying creates a very different exposure from brushing
- where it’s used, in an open yard or an enclosed tank or room
- who uses it, and who else is nearby.
Controls then follow the hierarchy in s 36. Substitute a water-based product where one does the job. Use extraction or ventilation where you can’t. PPE comes last, and the respirator on the SDS only works if it’s the right cartridge, fit-tested and actually worn.
The output belongs where workers will see it: the SWMS, the task procedure or the information at the chemical store. It shouldn’t live in a folder in the office.
Where an occupational hygienist comes in
Some questions can’t be answered by reading an SDS. If you are not certain on reasonable grounds whether airborne concentrations exceed the exposure standard, s 50 requires air monitoring. Health monitoring under s 368 applies to ongoing work with certain chemicals where there is a significant risk to health. Both are specialist work.
The benchmark is also changing. Workplace exposure standards are being replaced by Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) from 1 December 2026, and the limits for some airborne contaminants are changing.
Safeguard doesn’t do the monitoring. Where it’s needed, I scope it, engage a qualified occupational hygienist, and fold their results back into your register and risk assessments, so the report changes how the work is done.
How Safeguard helps
- Chemical inventory and register. I walk the site, list what’s actually there, flag out-of-date stock for disposal, chase current SDSs, and build a register your workers can get to.
- Storage review. Segregation, bunding, cabinets, signage and protection checked against the Regulation, AS 1940 and AS/NZS 3833, with manifest and placard thresholds confirmed.
- Risk assessments. One for each chemical or task that needs it, written so the controls can be followed on the tools.
- Hygienist engagement. Air or health monitoring scoped and managed where the risk calls for it.
Everything comes to you in Word and Excel, so you own it and can keep it current. Learn more about our risk management services, or talk to us about your chemical storage.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a register if I only have a few chemicals?
If any of them are hazardous chemicals used, handled or stored at the workplace, yes. The exceptions in s 346(4) are narrow: chemicals in transit, and consumer products for which you don’t need an SDS.
What is a manifest quantity?
A threshold quantity for each Schedule 11 hazardous chemical, or group of them. Once you exceed it you need a manifest (s 347), you must notify the regulator (s 348), and you need an emergency plan (s 361).
Is a hazardous chemical the same as a dangerous good?
Not always. The two classification systems overlap heavily but aren’t identical. Some chemicals are hazardous to health without being dangerous goods for transport, and the register and SDS duties follow the hazardous chemical classification.
