Hazardous Substances
Some substances used in offices may be hazardous, but generally under normal conditions of use the risk of injury or harm to health is not high.
Examples of substances used in the office are liquid paper, glue, spray adhesives, inks, toners, solvents, cleaning fluids and agents and pesticide sprays or slow release fertilisers kept for indoor plants.
Hazardous substances should be used and stored safely.
Your employer should keep an up to-date material safety data sheet (MSDS) for each substance used at the workplace. These could be collected and kept in a ring binder.
 | | Your employer should arrange for an assessment to be made of each hazardous substance used in the office and consider and apply control measures. |
There may be simple working procedures in place that ban use of spray adhesives in an enclosed area where the fumes can be concentrated or it may be necessary to wear gloves and a dust jacket when replacing some powder toners in photocopiers.
