When doing business in today’s highly regulated climate, chemical industry compliance is of the utmost importance. To avoid fines, protect the environment, and keep employees safe, businesses must comply with a complex web of rules and regulations.
Having a solid grasp of the rules and regulations that are relevant to your business is the first step in ensuring compliance. When discussing chemical organisations, it is essential to note the importance of adhering to all applicable local, national, and international legislation that regulate the manufacturing, transportation, storage, and disposal of chemicals.
So for instance, after consulting with the Advisory Council for Occupational Health and Safety, the Regulation of Hazardous Chemical Agents (HCA) was released on March 29, 2021, by the South African Ministry of Employment and Labour, in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993.
In addition to manufacturers, importers, and suppliers who may be exposed to HCA on the job, the newly issued regulation also applies to self-employed people and employers.
Chemicals are also categorised and labelled according to the UN’s Globally Harmonised System (GHS), which the law embraces. Classification, labelling, and packaging in accordance with GHS is now mandatory for chemical agent manufacturers and importers.
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Creating a System to Manage Compliance
A well-planned system is essential for efficient compliance management. We look at navigating regulatory compliance in chemical procurement. Your compliance efforts should begin with the development of a thorough policy. It ought to spell out your commitment to compliance, call attention to the particular rules that apply to your business, and specify the roles and duties of every employee.
Appointing a compliance person or group to this task guarantees that your organisation will have someone keeping tabs on regulatory developments, executing any necessary changes, and supervising compliance initiatives.
Risk assessments should be done on a regular basis to help find any dangers and compliance gaps. By doing so, you may better allocate resources and deal with locations that pose the most threat.
The presence of standard operating procedures (SOPs) is critical for guaranteeing compliance. In order to comply with regulations, these detailed instructions must spell out each stage in the process. Keep the lines of communication open with your staff and hold frequent training sessions to ensure they are staying on the same page. Maintain open lines of communication with your staff and make sure they get frequent training to solidify what they’ve learned.
Accurate and current record-keeping of compliance actions is vital. Ensure that all occurrences, training sessions, audits, and inspections are documented. When subjected to audits or inspections by regulatory bodies, these records will demonstrate your dedication to compliance.
Thoroughly Evaluate Potential Hazards
Executing a thorough risk assessment is the initial stage in guaranteeing safety and compliance in any business that handles chemicals. There is a rigorous three-step procedure that must be followed: identifying hazards, assessing risks, and preparing for mitigation.
Examining the chemical characteristics of every chemical your business purchases is an important part of hazard detection. A few of them might be poisonous or unstable, while others could have an explosive reaction to certain variables. To illustrate the point, certain handling and storage procedures are necessary for the explosive peroxides that can be formed over time by use of particular ethers. Recognising these dangers lessens the likelihood of adverse events.
Analysing the probability and possible consequences of a negative occurrence is what risk assessment is all about. Even though ethanol, a chemical that is widely used, is only somewhat toxic, the risk it poses can nonetheless be substantial. On the other hand, cyanides and other extremely poisonous compounds pose a significant threat despite their limited use because of their lethality.
Strategies to mitigate the identified hazards are developed during mitigation planning. These strategies may include using specific containment techniques for highly volatile substances or providing personal protective equipment (PPE) like lab coats and gloves for skin-irritating chemicals. Additional contingency plans should be prepared in case of unforeseen circumstances, such as chemical spills or unintentional exposure.
A thorough and well-planned approach, considering several factors such as chemical characteristics and emergency responses, is essential for guaranteeing workplace safety and compliance. The next critical step is to develop strong procurement procedures.
Make Sure Your Procurement Policies and Processes are Strong and Compliant
Environmental health and safety (EHS) management systems are the gold standard in the business when it comes to safety protocols in the workplace, rules for purchasing, and compliance processes of any kind. Standardising and implementing procurement policies and compliance procedures is a fundamental component of EHS management systems.
The procedure for evaluating vendors, placing chemical orders, and receiving shipments is outlined in these policies. To ensure the chemicals are of high quality and quantity is key to an effective management system.
Procedures for handling inconsistencies, such as wrong or broken shipments, should also be included in any policy.
Regulations are always changing, so policies and processes need to be flexible too. The use and disposal of specific carcinogenic compounds may be subject to stricter laws in the future, necessitating policy adjustments, therefore companies must remain current on changes in regional, national, and international safety standards and regulations.
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