Summary of Occupational Safety & Health

(Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2000

  1. Came in force 4th April 2000

  1. "chemicals hazardous to health" means any chemical or preparation which –

    2. bullet

    is listed in Schedule I or II of the Regulations;

    bulletpossesses any of the properties in Part B of Schedule I of the OS&H (CPL) Regulations 1997;
    bulletcomes within the definition of "pesticide" under the Pesticides Act 1974; or
    bullet

    is listed in the First Schedule of the EQ (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 1989.

  1. These Regulations apply to all places of work where the chemicals hazardous to health are used except chemicals which are –

    2. bullet

    defined as radioactive materials under the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984;

    bulletfoodstuffs;
    bullethazardous to health solely by virtue of their explosive or flammable properties, or solely because they are at a high or low temperature or a high pressure; and
    bulletpharmaceutical products.

"Pharmaceutical product" means a drug in a pharmaceutical dosage form for use by humans as medicine.

  1. Duty of the employer and self employed person to comply to these Regulations in respect to work activity by his employees or any other person who may be affected by the work activity, except –
    2. bulletfor "monitoring of exposure at the place of work" (regulation 26), shall not extend to non employees unless those persons are on the premises and carrying out work for the employer; and
    bullet

    for "health surveillance programme" (regulation 27), shall not extend to non-employees.

  1. (1) Employer shall record in a register all chemicals hazardous to health used

    2. (2) the register shall be updated from time to time and contain list of chemicals, CSDS, average quantity used, process and work area, name and address of supplier.

    (3) the register shall be assessable to all employees who may be exposed to the chemicals

  2. Employer to ensure persons exposed to hazardous chemicals listed in Schedule I at no time exceeds the ceiling limit in the Schedule

  1. (1) Employer to ensure persons exposed to hazardous chemicals listed in Schedule I in any eight hour work shift not to exceed the eight-hour time-weighted airborne concentration in the Schedule

 

          (2) Also, exposure shall not exceed the maximum exposure limit (3 times the 8-hour time-weighted 

            airborne concentration) during the work shift

 

  1. Compliance to permissible exposure limit takes into account the period where respirator is used, where the time-weighted average exposure is determined for the employee

  1. An employer shall not carry out work with a hazardous chemical unless he has made a written assessment of the risks (normally called Chemical Health Risk Assessment or CHRA) created by the chemical to the health of the employee

  1. The assessment completed in regulation 9 shall be reviewed if –

    bulletthere is significant change in the work
    bulletafter 5 years of the last assessment
    bullet

    directed by the DG of DOSH

  1. The assessment shall be conducted by an assessor

  1. (1) The assessor shall furnish the employer the assessment report within one month after completion of the assessment

    2. (2) If the assessment indicates that there is immediate danger to life and property, the assessor must immediately inform the employer

  2. The employer shall maintain the report for a period of thirty years and make available the report for examination by the DG or any employee

  1. Actions to eliminate or reduce the actual or potential exposure shall be carried out by the employer within one month of receiving the report

  1. (1) The employer shall control chemicals hazardous to health through elimination of the chemicals, substitution with less hazardous chemicals, total enclosure of process, isolation, modification of process parameters, use engineering control equipment, adopt safe work systems and practices and provision of personal protective equipment

    2. (2) Safe work systems and practices are to be documented and implemented

    (3) Safe work systems and practices are reviewed whenever there are significant changes to process, equipment, materials or control measures

  2. (1) Approved personal protective equipment (PPE) shall be used –

    bullet

    when application of other types of control measures are impracticable;

    bulletas an interim measure while other preferred measures are being designed and installed; or
    bulletwhen other measures do not adequately control exposure to employees

    (2) Procedures to be established for issuance, maintenance, inspection and training in the use of PPEs

    (3) Approved PPE shall be suitable for the type of work, fit the employee, not adversely affect health or medical condition of employee and readily available to the employee

     

  1. Any engineering control equipment provided shall be –
    bulletinspected by the employer at least once a month
    bullet

    examined and tested by a hygiene technician at least once in 12 months

  1. Any local exhaust ventilation equipment installed shall be –

    bulletdesigned according to an approved standard by a registered professional engineer and constructed to design specifications;
    bullet

    tested by a registered professional engineer after construction and installation

  1. Records of design, construction, testing, inspection, examination and maintenance of engineering control equipment shall be maintained by the employer and produced for inspection by the DG

  1. (1) Hazardous chemicals supplied or purchased by the employer and used in the work place are labelled

    2. (2) When the labels are removed, defaced, modified or altered, the employer shall re-label the chemical

  2. (1) When a hazardous chemical is transferred from its original to another container, and the container is not used within the normal work shift, the container shall be relabelled

    3. (2) If the contents are used in the normal work shift, the container must be relabelled with the chemical name or trade name as per the original label

    (3) If the contents are used in a testing chemical laboratory, the container must be relabelled with the chemical name or trade name as per the original label whether or not the contents are used within the same shift

    (4) The container need not be relabelled if the contents are used immediately

    (5) Labelling and relabelling are in accordance to the OS&H (CPL) Regulations, Pesticides Act or EQ (Scheduled Waste) Regulations

  3. (1) Employees must be provided with information, instructions and training to enable them to know the risk to health of the chemical and the precautions to be taken

    4. (2) Information provided includes results of monitoring of exposure at the work place and collective results of any health monitoring programme undertaken

    (3) Training programme shall be conducted at least once in 2 years; if there is a significant change in hazard information of the chemical; safe work practices and control measures changes; and when employees are assigned to new work tasks or areas

    (4) All training programmes shall be documented and available for inspection by DOSH officers

  4. Employer must ensure that any person who carries out work under these Regulations have received information, instruction and supervision to carry out such duties

  1. An employer who has received a supply of chemicals which are not labelled or have not received the CSDS shall not use the chemicals until the information has been obtained

  1. A copy of the CSDS shall be kept at a conspicuous place close to each work location, and shall be easily assessable to the employees

  1. (1) Monitoring of exposure to be in accordance with approved method of monitoring and analysis

    2. (2) If chemical is listed in Schedule II, monitoring of exposure to be conducted at intervals not more than 6 months apart

    (3) Monitoring to be conducted by a hygiene technician

    (4) records for personal employee exposure to be kept for 30 years, otherwise for 5 years

  2. (1) Health surveillance to be carry out when an assessment identifies its need

    3. (2) The medical surveillance component of the health surveillance to be carried out by an occupational health doctor

    (3) If chemical is listed in Schedule II, health surveillance shall include medical surveillance and conducted at intervals not more than 12 months apart

    (4) Copy of health surveillance to be kept for 30 years

  3. (1) An employee who has a medical condition detected by a S&O Officer who is also a medical practitioner or an occupational health doctor shall be removed from any work which placed him at increased risk of material impairment to health from exposure to hazardous chemicals
    bulletThis employee could be a pregnant woman or a breastfeeding employee
    bullet

    The employee can later be return to the former job after subsequent medical determination

  1. Where chemicals are used in an area where persons in the area may be affected -

    bulletwarning signs are to be posted at conspicuous place at every entrance to the area
    bullet

    other information to be given to the persons who may be affected

  1. (1) When an employer transfers the business to another person, the successor employer shall retain all the records as required under regulations 13, 19, 22, 26 & 27

    (2) When the employer ceases operations, and there is no successor, the employer shall transmit the records to the DG

    (3) At the expiry of the retention period for the records maintained under regulations 13, 26 & 27, the employer shall notify the DG in writing at least three months before he disposes off the records

Summarised by:  SKC Cemerlang Technical Sdn Bhd, Malaysia (E-mail: enquiry@skcct.com) 

Disclaimer:- The authors do not guarantee the correctness of the information above. Please refer to the original Act or Regulations or Order. Reference: Malaysian OSHA, OS&H (USECHH) Regulations 2000, Dept. DOSH / JKKP

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