Strengthened chemical management: Workplace Safety professional day with Bamble municipality
Hans Kristian Brekken, kjemiker og produktutvikler i Workplace Safety
At Workplace Safety, we believe in practical, tailored training to ensure our customers make full use of the solution’s functionality.
Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting an in-person training day with Bamble municipality, which places a strong emphasis on safe and correct chemical handling across its departments.
This session proved to be a valuable arena for discussing their needs and adapting the system to the municipality’s specific requirements.
We share this experience to inspire other customers to consider investing in a training day.
Physical presence creates a stronger focus and commitment for both parties, offering benefits that go beyond digital meetings and giving participants a deeper understanding of the system.
A municipality with chemical management in focus
Bamble municipality in Telemark is a medium-sized municipality with just over 14,000 inhabitants. The municipality uses chemicals in a number of sectors, from municipal engineering and cleaning to nursing homes and schools.
With such diverse applications, it was important to provide training that addressed both administrative functions and specific workflows required when handling chemicals.
Bamble municipality is committed to safe and responsible chemical management and sought to strengthen competence around the statutory requirements that apply when working with chemicals. Therefore, the training also highlighted how Workplace Safety supports compliance through user-friendly workflows and continuous documentation of completed tasks.
Training and advice
The day began with a training session for administrator users, focusing on access management, advanced functionality, and best practices for structuring and managing the chemical inventory in Workplace Safety.
This gave Bamble municipality a clear understanding of the system’s capabilities, from standard setups to more advanced customisations. By sharing examples from other municipalities and public sector organisations using Workplace Safety, we were able to explore different approaches and solutions.
Next, we trained super-users in the most relevant modules, including risk assessment, substitution assessment, and exposure registration. The training combined theory with practical application with participants learning about regulations and obligations while working through case studies in the system. With demo access, they tested different features, getting hands-on experience, which is crucial to feel confident in the system.
We also supported Bamble municipality in setting up its own exposure and risk assessment routines. Through practical exercises and guidance, the participants developed a solid understanding of how to establish these processes in Workplace Safety, providing a strong foundation for ongoing work and compliance with statutory requirements.
Workplace Safety is a user-friendly solution that is easy to implement, but for those who want to unlock its full potential, we recommend a thorough review with our experts.
Our training offers customers real value by demonstrating the full range of possibilities within the system. While Workplace Safety is highly flexible, its broad features can sometimes make it challenging to see the complete picture.
Through our training, administrators and super-users gain the insight needed to go beyond the standard setup. This enables them to customise the system, work more efficiently, and adapt chemical management to the specific needs of their business.
Our experience shows that training with physical presence gives participants a deeper understanding of Workplace Safety.
Many companies face challenges with internal adoption of chemical management systems and understanding of legal requirements. A training day with our experts can provide exactly what is needed to strengthen internal competence and ensure full benefits of the system – streamlining processes, improving workflows, and enhancing compliance.
We hope this inspires more organisations to invest in tailored training and build stronger chemical management skills in the workplace. The goal is to get people started, engaged, and confident, making chemical management both safe and straightforward.
Get in touch with us to discuss how we can organise a training program for your company!
Requirement for training in the use of the chemical inventory
According to the Regulations on the performance of work §2-4, the employer must ensure that employees have easy access to the chemical inventory and that relevant safety data sheets (SDS) are available in the workplace.
Providing thorough training for administrators and super-users helps lower the threshold for further training across the organisation.
Diisocyanates are hazardous chemicals: New training requirements
Hans Kristian Brekken er kjemiker og produktutvikler Workplace Safety.
Diisocyanates are a group of hazardous chemicals used in paints, varnishes and adhesives. Workers can suffer serious damage to their health after being exposed to products containing these chemicals. The European chemicals regulation REACH has now introduced requirements for training in safe use.
Health challenges related to exposure
– “You can be exposed to diisocyanates through skin contact, inhalation or ingestion, and even small amounts can cause serious damage to your health,” explains Hans Kristian Brekken, a chemist with experience of laboratory work and HSE in the petroleum industry.
– What is dangerous about isocyanates is that they cannot be smelled until they are far above acceptable limit values. There is therefore a great risk of inhaling air containing the substance for a long time before you notice it yourself.
The most common symptoms of exposure are breathing problems, stuffy or runny nose, and irritating cough or nosebleeds. Some diisocyanates, such as TDI (Toulene diisocyanate), are also classified as carcinogenic.
– Exposure to diisocyanates is irritating and allergenic to the respiratory tract and can result in occupational asthma, which is one of the reasons why these chemicals have received so much attention. In Europe, many thousands of workers suffer from respiratory diseases every year because of this,” says Brekken.
New training requirements
Diisocyanates are found in a wide range of industrial products and the training requirement applies to several industries and occupational groups. By August 24, 2023, anyone using diisocyanates and diisocyanate-containing mixtures with a concentration of 0.1% (weight percentage) or more must have completed training in safe use. The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has set a number of requirements for the training and it must be documented.
– To ensure that employees receive good training, you should familiarize yourself with the requirements of the Labour Inspection Authority and work with experts in the occupational health service to adapt the training to the company’s needs, Brekken recommends.
Brekken is a product developer for the digital chemical inventory Workplace Safety and emphasises the importance of having an updated chemical inventory where you can easily look up safety data sheets.
– The substance register is an important tool for collecting and finding information about products containing diisocyanates. The safety data sheet contains information about the product’s properties and what measures must be taken to handle the product safely,” explains Brekken.
Chapter 3 of the safety data sheet lists the components that make up the composition of the product, and here you can find out if the product contains diisocyanates, but this requires some expertise.
– It can be challenging to find out if the components in chapter 3 include diisocyanates. I therefore recommend searching for the hazard statement EUH 204 in the chemical inventory, which will bring up all the safety data sheets that contain this hazard statement. EUH 204 tells you whether the product contains diisocyanates,” says Brekken.
A safe working environment with diisocyanates
When working with chemicals, there is a requirement to consider the substitution of hazardous substances. This means replacing chemicals that are harmful to health with safer alternatives. This can be demanding for chemical products with diisocyanates, because there are currently not many satisfactory alternatives.
When the use of hazardous chemicals in the workplace cannot be avoided, it is therefore important that the employer implements good safety procedures and checklists with safety measures that minimize exposure. The employer must ensure that the correct personal protective equipment is used and that the premises have ventilation systems that minimize the presence of diisocyanates in the working atmosphere.
– There will always be a risk associated with working with hazardous chemicals. When you don’t know how to handle different chemicals, or how to protect yourself, this risk increases considerably.
– The fact that documented competence in the safe handling of diisocyanates is now required of both employers and employees will mean a lot for the occupational health of those who work with this,” concludes Brekken.
Diisocyanates
Diisocyanates are a group of chemical substances containing two isocyanates.
Risk of inhalation and direct skin contact
Diisocyanates are sensitizing to respiratory tract and direct skin contact.
In case of respiratory exposure, diisocyanates can cause breathing difficulties and asthma symptoms.
Skin contact can cause skin allergies.
Exposure
The most common ways to be exposed to diisocyanates:
The most common ways to be exposed to diisocyanates:
When heat treating polyurethane plastics that can release diisocyanates to the working atmosphere.
