Hazardous substances occur in many forms. They arise, for example, in the chemical industry where hazardous substances are produced. But they also arise in other sectors where employees use products that contain hazardous substances (such as paint, adhesives, inks and cleaning agents), or where the work process itself generates hazardous substances (such as diesel engine emissions, welding fumes and quartz dust). Exposure to hazardous substances can have serious consequences for health. Because the risks of nanoparticles are still not well understood, they are also treated as hazardous substances.
Protect your employees
If you produce or use hazardous substances – or products containing them – in your business, your employees may be at risk of health problems caused by exposure. As an employer, you are obliged to protect your employees.
Check safety yourself
It is important to know whether your employees can work under safe and healthy conditions. You can assess safety in your own business using the Hazardous Substances Self-Inspection (Dutch), developed by the Netherlands Labour Authority. The self-inspection allows you to look at your business through an inspector's eyes. You can check in four steps whether work in your company is carried out in a safe and healthy way. The self-inspection helps you to identify and assess the substances you use, implement appropriate measures, and ensure those measures.
Strict measures
The Netherlands Labour Authority carries out intensive and effective inspections of exposure to hazardous substances. Where violations occur, the Netherlands Labour Authority takes enforcement action, for example by imposing fines or ordering work to stop.
Companies that work with large quantities of hazardous substances (high-risk companies) are subject to separate rules:
- the Major Accidents (Risks) Decree (Brzo)
- the Supplementary Risk Inventory and Evaluation scheme (ARIE).
European legislation for chemical substances
Chemical substances are also subject to European requirements designed to protect people and the environment from the risks of exposure:
- Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
- Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals (CLP).
The Netherlands Labour Authority supervises compliance with REACH together with the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). Read more about REACH and CLP.
Questions and answers
Hazardous substances include chemical substances, fuels, natural gas and LPG. Substances produced by micro-organisms and fine particulate matter also fall under this category. The term covers both synthetic and naturally occurring chemical substances. Explosive substances or preparations are also considered hazardous substances.
Biological agents are living organisms capable of causing an infection, allergy or toxicity. Certain substances of biological origin that are not living organisms can still pose a risk to health.
Strict rules apply to protect employees and the environment from the risks posed by hazardous substances. The applicable rules depend on the type of substance, the quantities involved and how the substance is used. The rules apply not only to working with hazardous substances but also to their transport and storage.
Further information is available on arboportaal.nl (Dutch).
If a company intends to work with biological agents, the employer must notify the Netherlands Labour Authority (Dutch).
At a minimum, the employer must provide its employees with appropriate protective equipment. Examples include welding goggles that also shield the corners of the eyes, a lead apron and adequate ventilation (for work involving radioactive substances).
The risk of radiation must be recorded in the Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E). Measures to keep exposure to radiation as low as possible must be set out in an Action Plan.
Maximum limits apply to an employee's exposure to radiation. These limits must never be exceeded.
Also see on Arboportaal: ionising radiation (Dutch) and optical radiation (Dutch).