The Health and Safety Ccommission has established WELs for a number of substances hazardous to health. WELs replace Occupational Exposure Limits (OESs and MELs) from 6^th April 2005, as part of The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (Amendment) Regulations 2004.

WELs are intended to prevent excessive exposure to specified hazardous substances by containing exposure at or below a set limit. A WEL is the maximum concentration of an airborne substance averaged over a reference period, to which employees may be exposed by inhalation. WELs should not be considered a hard and fast line between safe and unsafe. The principles of the COSHH Regulations require the degree to which exposure is reduced below the WEL to be proportionate to the health risk.

HSE’s publication EH40/2005 Workplace Exposure Limits 2005 includes the list of substances assigned WELs and provides more detailed guidance on their use. It also contains information about substances that can be absorbed through the skin to a significant extent.

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New regulations for hazardous waste will come into force on 16 July 2005. These will replace the Special Waste Regulations 1996. One of the changes to be made is the introduction of a requirement to notify the Environment Agency of premises producing hazardous waste.

"Hazardous waste" is waste with one or more properties that are hazardous to health or to the environment. These hazardous properties are listed in the European Commission’s Hazardous Waste Directive and on this basis the Commission has drawn up a list of hazardous waste and incorporated this into a revised European Waste Catalogue.

From 16 July 2005, the movement of hazardous waste from premises that are not either notified or exempt will be prohibited. Producers should be prepared to prove to waste management contractors that their premises have been notified to the Environment Agency or are genuinely exempt from the notification requirements. To ensure that the movement and disposal of hazardous waste can continue smoothly from 16 July, it is intended that the provisions in the Hazardous Waste Regulations that relate to premises notification will take effect from early April 2005.

Certain types of premises will be exempt from the requirement to notify the Environment Agency if less than 200kg of hazardous waste is produced at that premises in any twelve-month period. Premises that can benefit from this exemption include:

• Offices;
• Shops;
• Premises listed in section 75(5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 i.e.

(i) Caravans;

(ii) Residential homes and nursing homes (including care homes);

(iii) Universities, schools and other educational establishments;

(iv) Hospitals.

• premises used by charities, campsites, prisons and other penal institutions and halls/other premises used for public meetings).

It should be noted that other premises (industrial etc) that produce hazardous waste would need to be notified to the Environment Agency, irrespective of the amount of hazardous waste they produce.

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As a signatory to the European agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), the UK is committed to harmonisation of national and international regulations, as far as possible. On 10 May 2004, The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004 came into force. These consolidate the ADR and RID Directives governing the carriage of dangerous goods by road and rail respectively.

The provisions of ADR set out how producers/consignors and carriers should classify, package, label and transport dangerous goods along with specific vehicle and tank requirements and various other operational requirements such as driver training. The latest version of ADR came into effect on 1 January 2005 and must be fully implemented by 1 July 2005.

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REACH is the acronym used to describe the new EU Chemical policy which is currently under negotiation. (Registration of basic information on substances, Evaluation to determine hazards and risks, Authorisation requirements imposed on the use of high-concern substances, for new and old Chemicals.) This new policy has been developed to deal with growing concern about chemicals in the environment and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for the coordination of the UK position.

HSE is currently preparing the UK’s implementation of a recent EU agreement on updated classifications and additions to the Dangerous Substances Directive. Annex 1 of the Directive sets out the classification and labelling information for thousands of chemicals that are classified as dangerous and pose risks to human health and/or the environment. The details are set out in the 29th Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP), Directive: 2004/73/EC.

The Dangerous Substances Directive is brought into force in the UK by the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 - the CHIP regulations. The CHIP regulations will need to be slightly amended to introduce the 29^th ATP in the UK. The amended regulations, known as CHIP 3.1, will come into force on 1 October 2005. All the legal duties under CHIP will remain the same.

Chemical suppliers should start preparing now for the new classification and labelling requirements by checking the classifications of the chemicals they supply and start making the necessary changes to storage, supply and labelling arrangements.

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Globally Harmonised System of Classification (GHS)

The UK is committed to the development of a global scheme for the classification and labelling of chemicals for supply and transport, through the UN. This is a long term project which will require new law (EU and UK) to put in place.

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These aim to protect people from the harmful health effects of substances used at work by requiring employers to carry out a risk assessment and as a result to take steps either to prevent exposure or to control the risks to their employees (or others who may be affected) from such substances. However, in a few cases, where risks are high or difficult to control, it imposes restrictions on the supply or use of the substances. COSHH is supported by an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) which gives practical advice on compliance.

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (COSHH 2004) introduce:

• restriction of the supply and use of cement containing high concentration of chromium(VI);
• clarification of the wording of regulation 9(1) of COSHH 2002 in respect of the scope of the duty to maintain exposure control measures
• some related changes to the ACoP.
• a new occupational exposure limit framework for hazardous substances (WELs).

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Chemical Essentials

The Health and Safety Executive, together with the Environment Agency and the Scottish Protection Agency (SEPA) is developing a web-based interactive tool known as Chemical Essentials. It will be designed to assist small businesses who use chemicals in the workplace to control and protect the health of their employees, guard against fire and explosion risks and comply with environmental legislation on discharges to the air and to water and waste disposal.

The development of the Chemical Essentials concept has been made possible by a £250,000 award from the Treasury's Invest to Save Budget. During the last three years, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), The Environment Agency (EA) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) worked together to meld their respective legal requirements into a unified system of rules, which deliver integrated health, safety and environmental guidance. The rules, which will not be visible to the user, contain a complex series of decision trees that ensure the user gets the appropriate advice.

HSE's COSHH Essentials (www.coshh-essentials.org.uk) is an Internet tool that helps businesses control health risks from chemicals;  Download the PowerPoint presentation: [ Occupational Exposure Limits A New Approach plus COSHH Essentials phase 2 ] given by the HSE at a recent ESL seminar 

NetRegs (www.netregs.gov.uk), a joint project of EA, SEPA and the Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland gives advice about how to comply with environmental law.

Chemical Essentials builds on this to deliver practical advice in a user-friendly format. The demonstration 

CDRom sets out how the system could operate and provides specimen guidance for selected chemicals and tasks. A range of small businesses with the spectrum of chemical uses will pilot the CDRom to make sure it is easy to use and that the guidance meets their needs. 

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