• What are dangerous goods and who is responsible?
• Managing incompatible goods
  • Storage management
  • Segregation tool for dangerous goods
  • Segregation techniques
  • Other issues
• Classifying dangerous goods
• Notification and exemption
• Managing the risk
• Transport and storage of dangerous goods
• Handling and storage of dangerous goods
• Frequently asked questions
• Training
• Key stakeholder agencies

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What are dangerous goods and who is responsible?

What are dangerous goods?

Dangerous goods are defined under Schedule 1 of the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Regulation 2001 (PDF, 658 kB). They have the potential to cause immediate harm to people, property and the environment due to the possibility of a fire, explosion and release of toxic, flammable, or corrosive materials during a storage or handling incident.

These materials may be dangerous because of one or more of the following properties:

• An ability to cause or accelerate combustion.
• Acute toxic effects.
• An ability to cause corrosion of skin and other materials.
• Capacity to harm the environment.
• Potential to cause asphyxiation by displacement of oxygen.
• Temperature or pressure hazards.
• Ability to react with other materials adversely.

They are divided into nine classes, some of which are divided into divisions according to the nature of the hazard.

Who is responsible?

Everyone involved with dangerous goods at workplaces has obligations for workplace health and safety, under the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Act 2001 (PDF, 629 kB) and the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Regulation 2001 (PDF, 658 kB).

Manufacturers, importers and suppliers of dangerous goods must:

• ensure that all such goods are safe for storage and handling
• provide information regarding safe storage and handling with the dangerous goods, as well as Material Safety Data Sheets for each type of goods supplied
• provide a label on all containers containing information on the UN number (a unique substance identifier), class subsidiary risk and packing group to which the goods belong.

Occupiers (employers, or other persons, who have overall management of the facility or workplace) have requirements to prevent or control certain hazards at workplaces including:

• dangerous goods locations and large dangerous goods locations
• major hazard facilities
• minor storage workplaces.

Ways to prevent or control hazards include:

• identifying hazards, using placards
• maintaining manifests and registers
• conducting risk assessments
• training
• personal protective equipment
• protecting visitors
• workplace security
• planning for emergencies.

Employees or other persons must:

• comply with safety procedures
• comply with safety instructions
• report to supervisors any safety issues
• act to ensure no one is exposed to an unacceptable level of risk.

Key stakeholder agencies

There are also key stakeholder agencies that have responsibilities to help regulate the storage, handling and transportation of dangerous goods, licence certain activities, and deal with emergencies.