Chemicals

Many thousands of chemicals are used in workplaces. They can be the raw materials used to make a product or they may be the product itself. Some chemicals are used during the work procedures for cleaning or lubrication, while others may be byproducts of an industrial process.

Chemicals can be solids, liquids, vapours, gases, dusts, fumes or mists. We commonly think of chemicals as being liquids, like acids, solvents and oils, or gases, like carbon monoxide or oxygen. However, metals, such as lead and nickel, or minerals, such as asbestos and silica, are also chemicals.

Whether you get sick depends on:

if the chemical can get into your body
how much of the chemical you are in contact with
how long you are in contact with the chemical
how poisonous the chemical is
Not all chemicals harm all parts of the body but they do need to be assessed by law to see if they are hazardous. Let us assist in your hazard identification and risk assessment, and help you succeed in implementing the right control measures for your site.