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Chemicals

The health risks of chemicals depend on their hazardous properties as well as the amount and duration of exposure. As an employer, UiA must ensure that chemicals are used and handled safely in the workplace and establish procedures for their safe storage and use.

What are chemicals?

Chemicals are elements, chemical compounds, or mixtures thereof. They can occur naturally or be industrially produced.

Examples of purchased chemicals include paint, cleaning products, oil products, disinfectants, and raw materials for production, while welding smoke, diesel exhaust, and nitrogen oxides are chemicals that arise from various processes and work operations.

Health hazards

Chemicals can pose a risk to employees’ and students’ safety and health. Exposure can occur via inhalation, through the skin, or by ingestion. The severity of the risk from exposure depends on the chemical’s properties, the level of exposure, and how and for how long a person has been exposed.

Chemicals may be acutely toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic (genotoxic), reproductive toxicants, allergenic, corrosive or irritating. Some chemicals produce acute effects, while others may cause health complaints or disease after long-term exposure, sometimes many decades later.

Pregnant persons who are to work with chemicals must, together with their manager, carry out a risk assessment of any potential exposure. Pregnant persons must not be exposed to gases or chemicals that can cause fetal harm (hazard statements H360, H361, H362).

Classification and labelling of chemicals

Hazardous chemicals and chemical mixtures must be classified and labelled in accordance with the EU regulation on the classification, labelling, and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP). Companies that manufacture, import and market hazardous chemicals are responsible for ensuring proper classification, labelling and packaging.

The hazards are divided into hazard classes, and the hazardous properties are indicated by hazard pictograms, signal words, and H- and P-statements (hazard statements and precautionary statements).

Employer’s labelling duty

UiA must ensure that containers and packaging for hazardous chemicals that are produced, packed, used or stored within the institution are properly marked in Norwegian with the chemical’s name, hazard pictogram and hazard statements. In special cases, pictograms and hazard statements may be omitted.

Measures to protect against chemical exposure

Identification, risk assessment and measures to reduce or prevent chemical exposure.

UiA must assess the risk of exposure to chemicals — that is, identify and carry out a risk assessment of the use of chemicals and the risk of exposure. Based on this risk assessment, UiA must implement measures to remove or reduce exposure.

Training and information

Employees and students must be informed about the risks associated with hazardous chemicals at UiA.

UiA must ensure that employees, students and safety representatives receive training and ongoing information about:

the hazardous chemicals that are present or may be present at UiA.
the names of the chemicals, the risks they pose to employees’ and students’ health and safety, and the applicable limit values for the chemicals.
use of the chemical registry (stoffkartoteket), the risk assessment performed and any significant changes to it.
Correct use of work equipment used during chemical-related tasks.
necessary protective measures for safe execution of the work.
handling of operational disturbances and emergencies that may arise.

The need for training and information must be assessed continuously, and particularly when new and unfamiliar chemicals or processes are introduced.

Employees and students have both the right and the duty to participate in workplace safety efforts to prevent health damage from chemicals.

Register of employees exposed to particularly hazardous chemicals

Exposure to chemicals can be prevented through appropriate organisation and facilitation of work involving chemical exposure, necessary training and information for workers, substitution of hazardous chemicals with less hazardous alternatives, enclosure of polluting processes, ventilation measures and, finally, use of personal protective equipment.

Work with certain types of hazardous substances, radiation and biological agents requires UiA to keep a register of employees’ and students’ exposure to these substances. This is regulated by the Regulations on the Performance of Work, Chapter 31. Employees and students must cooperate in registering exposures when working with such substances.

Chemical inventory and exposure log

Chemical inventory - Workplace Safety