Chemical risk assessment: what it is and what it is about

Among the main risks to which workers may be exposed are the presence of hazardous chemical agents in the workplace.

To prevent workers from endangering their health, companies employing chemical agents are required to conduct a careful chemical risk assessment.

Let’s see together what it is and what it is about.

What is chemical risk assessment

Chemical risk assessment is an analysis that is carried out in activities where the health and safety of workers may be endangered by the presence of chemical agents. All companies in which chemical agents are used have a legal duty to conduct a thorough evaluation aimed at safeguarding the health of workers. This relates not only to protecting the health of its employees but also affects the productivity of the company itself. In cases where the worker’s job is particularly exposed to more than one hazardous chemical agent, it is important to conduct a chemical risk assessment by taking the combination of all chemical agents into consideration.

If hazardous chemical agents are present from the start of a new activity, a prior chemical risk assessment must be conducted.

The chemical risk assessment document

Completing the chemical risk assessment document involves several steps.

Let’s look at them together:

– the inspection: experts in the field conduct the assessment in the workplace where the potentially hazardous chemical agents are used. Not only the substance itself is evaluated but also the conditions associated with it because the same substance is likely to be dangerous in certain circumstances of use and harmless in others;

– safety data sheets: thanks to them, it can be understood whether the substance in question poses a high or low risk to the safety of workers’ health and the environment. MSDSs give the employer the opportunity to take the right protective measures since they list properties and hazard details of the substance;

– analysis of hazardous chemical agents;

–
risk and exposure assessment, with biological limit values.

The factors of the level of exposure

Factors to consider in order to know a worker’s level of exposure to a chemical agent are:

– the substance used;

– the amount used;

– the duration of the activity in which there is the presence of the substance;

– the concentration of the substance in workplaces;

– the routes of penetration to reach the organs.

By whom the chemical risk assessment document is completed

The chemical risk assessment document is completed by several figures:

– employer;

– RSPP (Prevention and Protection Service Manager);

– RLS (Workers’ Safety Officer);

– competent physician.

It is important for the employer, after identifying the hazardousness of the chemical agents in his company, to take measures to prevent and manage the hazard, such as eliminating or replacing hazardous agents or having people use personal protective equipment.