Workplace Chemical Hazards: Types, Duties and Practical Controls

Most workplaces use hazardous chemicals, whether it’s fuel in a depot, cleaning products in a kitchen, pesticides on a farm or solvents in a workshop. Some hazards come from the work itself, like welding fumes or silica dust. This guide covers the types of chemical hazards, what WHS law expects, the change to workplace exposure limits, and the controls and checks that keep people safe.

Types of chemical hazards

What WHS law expects

Under the WHS regulations, businesses that use, handle or store hazardous chemicals must manage the risks. Key duties include:

• keeping a register of hazardous chemicals, with current safety data sheets (SDS) that workers can access
• making sure containers are correctly labelled using the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)
• making sure no one is exposed above the airborne exposure limits
• providing health monitoring for workers exposed to certain hazardous chemicals
• providing information, training, supervision, spill containment and emergency equipment

Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice on managing risks of hazardous chemicals in the workplace gives practical guidance. Check with your state or territory regulator for the rules that apply to you.

Workplace exposure limits

Safe Work Australia’s workplace exposure standards for airborne contaminants are being replaced by workplace exposure limits (WELs), which apply from 1 December 2026. Many values have changed, so businesses should check the new limits for the chemicals they use and review air monitoring and controls where needed.

Managing chemical risks

1. List your chemicals. Build or update the register, including products made by your processes, such as fumes and dust.
2. Get current SDS. Check you have the latest SDS for each product and that workers can find them.
3. Assess the risks. Consider how chemicals are used, how people could be exposed and how serious the harm could be.
4. Control the risks. Work down the hierarchy of controls, starting with removing or substituting the chemical.
5. Train and supervise. Make sure workers understand labels, SDS, controls, PPE and emergency procedures.
6. Check and review. Inspect stores and controls regularly, monitor exposure where needed, and review after incidents or changes.

Controls that work

• Remove or substitute: stop using the chemical, or switch to a less hazardous product or form, such as a paste instead of a powder.
• Isolate: enclose processes, store chemicals away from work areas and restrict access.
• Engineering controls: local exhaust ventilation, water suppression for dust, and bunded storage.
• Administrative controls: safe work procedures, labelling, signage, housekeeping and limiting exposure time.
• PPE: the right gloves, eye protection and respiratory protection for the chemical. See our guide to personal protective equipment.

For storage checks, see our guide to hazardous materials storage inspections.

Chemical safety checks on the phone

With DIGI CLIP, teams complete chemical store inspections, SDS checks and spill kit checks on a phone, with photos. Each form is location- and time-stamped. Missing labels, out-of-date SDS or damaged containers become actions in the Action Log, so they’re fixed and closed out with evidence.

Illustrative scenario: an out-of-date SDS

During a monthly check at a vehicle workshop, a supervisor finds the SDS for a brake cleaner is more than five years old. She fails the item in DIGI CLIP, which creates an action for the workshop manager. The current SDS is downloaded from the supplier, the register is updated, and the action is closed out with a photo of the new SDS in the folder.

This scenario is illustrative. It shows how a business could use DIGI CLIP and is not an account of a specific customer.