Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00412:body:0:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00412
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 17409–20441

can become apparent after a short period of time and include headaches, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, burns to the skin or eyes and irritation to the nose, throat and lungs. Serious long term health effects where the symptoms may not be immediately apparent can also occur. Long term health effects include asthma, dermatitis, kidney or liver damage, cancer and damage to the reproductive system and central nervous system.
Many chemicals used in spray painting or powder coating also have physicochemical hazards.
For example, many organic solvents are flammable and some chemicals used for cleaning or surface preparation may be corrosive.
Information about the hazards of chemicals is available from product labels and safety data sheets.  A SDS includes information on the health effects, physicochemical properties, safe handling and storage, emergency procedures, and disposal considerations. It also contains information about how hazardous chemicals can enter the body, for example by inhalation into the lungs, absorption through the skin and eyes and through swallowing including accidently ingesting small amounts.
If you don't have a SDS for a hazardous chemical supplied to your workplace, you must obtain one from the manufacturer, importer or supplier of the chemical. You should also consider obtaining a current SDS before you decide to purchase a new chemical as it is useful to identify hazards before you potentially introduce them into your workplace.

Exposure standards
Regulation 49 A person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure that no person at the workplace is exposed to a substance or mixture in an airborne concentration that exceeds the exposure standard for the substance or mixture.
Exposure standards represent the airborne concentration of a particular substance or mixture that must not be exceeded. There are three types of exposure standard:

    * 8-hour time-weighted average
    * peak limitation, and
    * short term exposure limit.
Exposure standards are based on the airborne concentrations of individual substances that, according to current knowledge, should not cause adverse health effects nor cause undue discomfort to nearly all workers.
Chemicals with workplace exposure standards are listed in the Workplace Exposure Standards
for Airborne Contaminants. These exposure standards are also available from the Hazardous Substances Information System (HSIS) on the Safe Work Australia website. The HSIS database contains additional information and guidance for many substances. Although exposure standards may also be listed in Section 8 of the SDS, you should always check the Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants or HSIS to be certain.
Guidance on interpreting exposure standards is available in the Guidance on the Interpretation
of Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants.
To comply with the WHS Regulations, monitoring of workplace contaminant levels for chemicals with exposure standards may need to be carried out.

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