Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00424:front:0:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00424
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 2992–5757

of practice is a practical guide to achieving the standards of health, safety and welfare required under the WHS Act and the Work Health and Safety Regulations (the WHS Regulations).
A code of practice applies to anyone who has a duty of care in the circumstances described in the code. In most cases, following an approved code of practice would achieve compliance with the health and safety duties in the WHS Act, in relation to the subject matter of the code. Like regulations, codes of practice deal with particular issues and do not cover all hazards or risks that may arise. The health and safety duties require duty holders to consider all risks associated with work, not only those for which regulations and codes of practice exist.
Codes of practice are admissible in court proceedings under the WHS Act and Regulations. Courts may regard a code of practice as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or control and may rely on the code in determining what is reasonably practicable in the circumstances to which the code relates.
An inspector may refer to an approved code of practice when issuing an improvement or prohibition notice.
This Code of Practice has been developed by Safe Work Australia as a model code of practice under the Council of Australian Governments' Inter-Governmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments.
A draft of this Code of Practice was released for public consultation on 7 December 2010 and was endorsed by the Workplace Relations Ministers Council on 10 August 2011.

Scope and application
This Code applies to substances, mixtures and articles used, handled or stored at the workplace that are defined as hazardous chemicals under the WHS Regulations.
This Code provides practical guidance on how to prepare a safety data sheet for any hazardous chemicals that are being manufactured or imported for use, handling or storage in Australia. It applies to a person conducting a business or undertaking involved in the manufacture or import of hazardous chemicals that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, in workplaces.

How to use this Code of Practice
In providing guidance, the word 'should' is used in this Code to indicate a recommended course of action, while 'may' is used to indicate an optional course of action.
This Code also includes various references to provisions of the WHS Act and Regulations which set out the legal requirements. These references are not exhaustive. The words 'must', 'requires' or 'mandatory' indicate that a legal requirement exists and must be complied with.

    1.               INTRODUCTION

1.1         What is a safety data sheet?
A safety