According to Legislative Decree No. 81/2008 (Art. 223), the employer, in carrying out the risk assessment, is required to preliminarily determine the possible presence of hazardous chemical agents in the workplace and, if applicable, the effects resulting from their combination.
Where there is the presence of chemical agents, it will also be necessary to assess the risks to the safety and health of workers by considering in particular:
- The hazardous properties of chemical agents;
- health and safety information communicated by the manufacturer or supplier through the relevant safety data sheet prepared in accordance with EU Regulation No. 453/2010 (implementing EC Regulation No. 1907/2006 c.d. REACH);
- The level, mode and duration of exposure;
- the circumstances under which work is carried out in the presence of such agents taking into account the amount of substances and preparations that contain them or can generate them;
- occupational exposure limit values or biological limit values, an initial list of which can be found in Annexes XXXVIII and XXXIX;
- The effects of preventive and protective measures taken or to be taken;
- if available, the conclusions drawn from any health surveillance actions already undertaken.
Once the chemical risk exposure assessment has been carried out, the employer is required to eliminate risks from hazardous chemical agents or, alternatively, provide for their minimization by implementing the following measures:
- Design and organization of workplace processing systems;
- Provision of suitable equipment for the specific work and its appropriate maintenance procedures;
- Minimizing the number of workers who are or could be exposed;
- Minimizing the duration and intensity of exposure;
- Appropriate hygienic measures;
- Minimizing the amount of agents present in the workplace according to the needs of the work;
- appropriate working methods including provisions to ensure safety in the handling, storage and transportation to the workplace of hazardous chemical agents as well as wastes containing such chemical agents.
The provision of such measures can be said to be effective if the results of the risk assessment show that, in relation to the type and quantities of a hazardous chemical agent and the manner and frequency of exposure to that agent present in the workplace, there is only a low risk to safety and insignificant risk to workers’ health.
Chemicals that are used in production cycles, such as those used in daily household life, to be in the form of substances, preparations, derivatives or waste, may contain chemical agents that are potentially hazardous to the health and/or safety of users.