GHS Labeling

[rae]

Well that makes it very clear. FINALLY!!

[melsid]

Woohoo!!! A definite answer at last. They certainly took their time.

[annettstanley]

Hi Julie
are you able to briefly outline the DET link as I cant open it being a private school

[J]

Hope I'm allowed to put this link in:

https://beta.dec.nsw.gov.au/schoolbiz/tamworth

[rae]

I, too, am at an independent school and I can't access the link you have provided. I would be interested to know what the DET is saying. Many thanks.

[J]

The quote above is all that is mentioned about GHS labelling in this issue, so the other bits that you can't access are about other things and probably of no interest to you anyway. I find it crazy that there is such a random mention of something that is so important to us and we have been asking for clarification about for so long!!

[annettstanley]

Thanks anyway Julie but it is still no good to us as we don't have passwords to access to intranet. I will try one of the public school and get them to print it for me.

[annettstanley]

Thanks anyway Julie but it is still no good to us as we don't have passwords to access to intranet. I will try one of the public school and get them to print it for me.

[melsid]

Here is a link to the GHS fact sheet the DET info directs us to. Hope it helps!

http://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/a ... t-8028.pdf

[Narelle01]

Thanks for sharing the DET school Biz links, I cam here to do just that.

So we can all relax and do our jobs.

[J]

Sorry, Annett I misunderstood what you were asking. This is what it says on the DET link: (I have had to remove some URLs that were included, because Chemtalk will let us use a maximum of 3 URLs)


Chemical Safety in Schools (Updated 10 February 2016)


Recent questions/queries on Asbestos in Talc and Use of Spirit Burners, go to Frequently Asked Questions section.

ChemWatch Gold FFX
The Department has now transitioned to the ChemWatch Gold FFX program. You can access this program here.
For guidance on how to log in to the Gold FFX program, please download the document below:
ChemWatch Gold FFX (PDF 0.46MB)

Access to Online CSIS Data: CSIS Online
Access to Chemwatch MSDS Data: Chemwatch






Webinar 2 Presentation: Updating CSIS Package


Work Health and Safety Legislation

The department commenced reviewing Chemical Safety in Schools (CSIS) during 2012, with the support of independent chemical safety advice, to ensure compliance with the new Work Health and Safety legislation and Workcover NSW requirements. CSIS is being revised and amendments will commence to be uploaded online during the 2015 school year. From reviews of curricula, involving BOSTES, DoE Curriculum staff, practicing Head teachers and Teachers It is unlikely there will be major changes to the range of chemicals in CSIS, or the usage advice requirements for specific chemicals. Schools must continue to implement the DETRA protocol when using chemical substances in all DoE workplaces.

Tasks completed and underway (but not uploaded as yet) include:
A review of all chemical specific risk assessment advice in Appendices A and D (online Appendix D - Chemicals search):
Volume 2, appendices E,F,G and H.
Volume 1, update of all sections 1.1 to 1.11, to ensure compliance with Work, Health and Safety legislation, and Workcover NSW compliance for Dangerous Goods Notification and Plant Registration.


DoE staff in schools will be given the opportunity to make comment on CSIS and any necessary changes that are required to make it responsive and supportive to K-12 educational activities. This particularly relates to the Curriculum Support Documents for Science, Technological and Applied Studies and Creative Arts.

A structured feedback sheet (20KB, XLSX) is provided to process and assess the issues raised.

Should you wish to make comment now, please follow the following advice;
1.Download, the Excel file,
2.Indicate who is making comment, Individual/ Faculty Group. Contact details are optional, and if not given, you will not be contacted should additional input be needed to resolve the issue,
3.Reference the Section of CSIS as accurately as possible, when making comment on existing advice,
4.Limit one issue per line,
5.Insert rows, in the Excel file as needed, to make more comments.
6.When finished, save a copy of the file and email to Compliance@det.nsw.edu.au
7.Every attempt will be made to acknowledge comments from staff/schools.
Feedback issues will be considered, and may include any/all of Asset Management Directorate, WHS Directorate, Curriculum staff, Legal Services, external chemical safety consultant, toxicologist.

Please note: the transition period for the labelling of chemicals is 5 years, with a compliance date of 1 January 2017.

In the meantime, CSIS is to be implemented as issued, with the exception of existing advice regarding Dangerous Goods licensing (Section 1.3.3) where Workcover licenses are no longer required. The current Workcover requirements are for Dangerous Goods Notifications, where there are large (manifest) quantities of dangerous goods on a school site. This should only impact on schools with LPG tanks, with a capacity of 5000 Litres or more (which are managed centrally by state office) and where there are large quantities of flammable liquids.

Schools with manifest quantities of flammable liquids will be requested to comply with the generous provisions of the legislation. Most flammable liquids in schools are Packing Group – Category 2, including petrol and alcohols, with a manifest quantity of 2,500 Litres. The manifest quantity for diesel is 10,000 Litres. Where schools exceed these quantities they are requested to advise the Compliance Unit by emailing Compliance@det.nsw.edu.au or phoning Paras Doshi, Compliance and Safety Officer on (02) 9561 8969. No other action regarding Dangerous Goods is required at this time.

Chemical Safety in School (CSIS)

URL: CSIS Online
URL: Chemwatch
‘Chemwatch is updated quarterly and is trialled before being made active on the DoE intranet. On occasion this final action may occur during the 28-Day warning period provided by Chemwatch.’

The following step by step guidelines addresses issues relating to the use of User ID, Password and manifest access.
Guide to using Chemwatch (PDF 212kb)

Chemwatch FAQ Information

The Chemical Safety in School (CSIS) 1999 package, was distributed to schools in August 2000 for implementation by the end of the 2001 school year. Two Memoranda to Principals relate to the period of implementation:
Chemical Safety in Schools
Ref : 00/283, Dated 14th July 2000
Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (Hazardous Substances) Regulation 1996
Ref: 00/379, Dated: 20th September 2000

Prior to the distribution of the CSIS package support was provided for implementation to both schools and district offices. Implementation of CSIS was designed for school based implementation with the training package appropriate for group and self paced learning activities.

Schools were provided with a tied grant to fund additional clerical support or the purchase of necessary materials. Schools were directed to the District Implementation Team to resolve outstanding matters.
Chemical Safety in Schools
(Memorandum to Principals)
Ref: 98/233 Dated: 23rd October 1998

District offices were provided with resources to establish a team to support schools during the implementation period.
Chemical Safety in Schools
(Memorandum to District Superintendents)
Ref: 98/234, Dated: 23rd October 1998

The package provided to DoE schools included a CD-ROM which contained a Safety Data Sheets(SDS) database developed by Chemwatch Ltd. This CD-ROM was reissued in 2002 to ensure updated SDS were accessible to staff in schools.

All departmental staff are requested to provide feedback on CSIS using the Webmaster response button.

Staff in high chemical use areas are requested to comment on:
Additional chemicals requiring risk assessment advice
Further examples of best practice
Inconsistencies in this document and the needs of curricula
Other chemical related matters requiring advice

This advice will be used in updating the CSIS package from 2013.

Changes to website access for Chemwatch

Advice concerning chemical safety for NSW government schools is located on the following locations:

Department of Education' Work Health and Safety webpage at:
https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/workhealt ... management

The key change for schools is that previously a user name and password was only required to access Chemical Manifests, not to do general searching for information on a chemical and accessing Safety Data Sheets and labels.

Now, as the site is hosted externally to the Department on the internet, it will be necessary for schools to login to Chemwatch to undertake any activity.



Schools currently using a password to access Chemwatch will continue to use the same user name and password but schools will need to include the prefix dec in front of the user name that they are using. So for instance if a school's chemwatch user name was previously '1234', the user name will now be 'dec1234' with their password remaining the same. The requirement for this new prefix, will be made during the July school holidays and existing manifest data will also be migrated to the new host version of Chemwatch during that time.

Chemwatch Support

NSW government schools wishing to access Chemwatch which do not have a user name and password and wish to make use of Chemwatch should contact their Client Services Team for safe working and learning to obtain their school's user name and password.

If schools encounter any problems in using the application or have any questions about how to use Chemgold 3 they will be able to access online chat support within the application. When users login to Chemwatch at the new address they will see the following blue Icon at the top of the screen which they can click to access online support via chat.

During business hours 8.30am – 5.30pm schools can talk directly to a Chemwatch support officer via the chat support application. Outside business hours they can click on the live support icon, and leave an email message and receive a response during business hours.

Please contact your Client Services Team for safe working and learning if you have any questions concerning the management of chemical safety in your school.

[Labbie]

Well done, well said.

[Labbie]

Hi Everyone,
Please find attached an item from SchoolBiz. Please read this first. I spoke to Alan this morning to clarify some details. The SchoolBiz attachment was sent out by the DoE WHS Department.

We don't have to relabel our chemicals it's true but if the chemicals are used in class or labs they should be labelled correctly with the Detra Dot and GHS labels after December 2016, (so please note that people who have relabelled their chemicals already have not wasted their time because we do use chemicals in the labs & preps etc).
The updated CSIS will be available on the Intranet before January 2017. It will come with a frequently asked Q & A section at the bottom. This section at the bottom will also allow you to ask new questions about the updates.
The DoE WHS people are working with ‘Safety Australia’ to allow a certain amount of access to these updates to the AIS (Australian Independent Schools) & Catholic Education. If they need or want more access then they will have to pay the DoE for it. They have a different governing body when it comes to WHS etc., so they will have to follow their own governing body rules.
The CSIS package is our bible when it comes to chemical safety in NSW public schools. You DO NOT have to do a risk assessment for every experiment if you follow the CSIS package.
Alan Smith (Asset Management DoE) will be talking to Phillip Crisp soon about all matters related to risk assessment, CSIS, Detra Dots & labels.

[J]

Thanks, Labbie.
Things are slowly falling into place.

[annettstanley]

Thanks for all that info. Just one more question now could someone ask DoE, when the new CSIS comes out will the independent/catholic/etc. schools be able to obtain a copy and if so how?

Thanks

[bigmack]

(so please note that people who have relabelled their chemicals already have not wasted their time because we do use chemicals in the labs & preps etc).
.

Amen Labbie
Labbie , did Alan give any clue as to how much before next January the new CSIS will be released ?

Thanks J for the schoolbiz link .

I'm still at a loss as to why all school science assistants have not been officially notified about GHS labelling requirements .Surely it would not be that hard for someone to do that . I know several Labbies who won't be doing anything until they are told .

[sunray18]

Decision made by Head of Science and Principal - we are not to re-label any chemicals in the chem-store - not now , not next year.
next year we are to refuse to accept any chemical deliveries where the label is not GHS compliant but we do not touch the old labels on existing chemical containers.
I have diarised that - it IS their responsibility and decision, just need to keep track of it to cover my back.

[Merilyn1]

Hi Sunray
Is that just the purchased chemicals, or will you be leaving your stock bottles and droppers as well?
I am not re-labelling purchased chemicals, but do plan on re-labelling my solutions i've made. It is time they were re-done as some have had changes to their classification in recent times, eg lead nitrate, so it's a good opportunity to pick up on these things. And I don't always trust the source information of the "other" labels.

But I agree, let other people make the tough decisions, but keep records!

[annettstanley]

Hi All just got confirmation from AIS that all we need to do is the relabelling of any chemical that will be leaving the "chemical store area" or preproom. Also we are under no obligation to follow CSIS as it is only relevant to DoE schools and as long as we follow new GHS rules we will be covered. But my HoD has said we will still look at CSis as a guide and let the teachers make the call. Now just to finish labelling

[rae]

Annette, does that mean if we send a solid chemical into the lab for some prac that it has to have the GHS label despite Safe Work Australia saying only chemicals purchased after Jan 2017??