The aim is to ensure the safety and health of employees and to protect the environment
Written operating instructions must be made available to employees for the handling of hazardous substances, machinery and vehicles as well as for certain processes.
The Hazardous Substances Ordinance lists the contents of operating instructions for hazardous substances, but the external form is not specified. Operating instructions are the basis for instructions and must be updated in the event of changes (e.g. formulation). Hazardous substances with similar hazards and similar protective measures can be summarized in a collective operating instruction. Employers are looking for tools to create and update operating instructions tailored to their operational needs.
The legal basis
Contents
According to Section 14 of the Hazardous Substances Ordinance, an operating instruction must contain at least the following:
- Information on hazardous substances present or arising in the workplace, e.g. designation of hazardous substances, labeling and health and safety hazards
- Information on appropriate precautions and measures to be taken by the employee (hygiene regulations, measures to prevent exposure, wearing and use of personal protective equipment, etc.)
- Information on measures to be taken in the event of operational disruptions, accidents and emergencies and for accident prevention
Information is generally provided by the safety data sheet. Missing safety data sheets must be requested, usually from the supplier of the hazardous substance. Operating instructions must be written in such concrete terms that they can be translated into practical action and behavior. This means that work equipment as well as technical and personal protective measures must be precisely described, e.g. the name of a personal protective equipment or the exact location of waste containers.
Note
Operating instructions must be workplace and activity-related. Different activities involving a substance at the same workplace may require different operating instructions, e.g. if different hazards arise during maintenance work than during the production process.
Form and language
Operating instructions should be designed as uniformly as possible in the company and should be drawn up in such a way that they summarize all relevant information on one DIN A4 page.
The Technical Rule for Hazardous Substances (TRGS) 555 suggests the following section headings, which should enable a clear presentation:
- Work areas, workplace, activity
- Hazardous substances (designation)
- Hazards to humans and the environment
- Protective measures, rules of conduct
- Behavior in case of danger
- First aid
- Proper disposal
For hazardous substances, these sections are usually separated by orange or red bars. Operating instructions must be drawn up in a comprehensible form and language. This means that they must be translated into different languages for foreign employees.
Instruction
Instruction must be given orally on the basis of the operating instructions. Employees of legal age must be instructed before taking up employment and then at least once a year, young people at least every six months.
Updating
The operating instructions must be updated whenever there is a significant change, e.g. if the process is changed or a new substance is used or if the formulation of the hazardous substance used has changed.
Implementation in practice
A lack of information can lead to careless handling of hazardous substances. This can result in accidents and injuries. The employer must therefore ensure that up-to-date operating instructions are available at the workplaces - or in close proximity, e.g. as a notice or on the company intranet. They must also ensure that operating instructions are regularly reviewed and updated.
Advantages of collective operating instructions
For activities involving hazardous substances for which similar hazards exist and comparable protective measures apply, an identical set of operating instructions, known as a group or collective operating instruction, can be drawn up. Criteria for grouping are, for example, H and EUH phrases, hazard pictograms, hazards and protective measures.
The main advantages over individual operating instructions are
- The number of relevant operating instructions at the workplace or in the company is limited to what is necessary and enables a quicker overview of which document the user must use. This is particularly practical for companies that handle a large number of hazardous substances.
- Employees can read important protective measures and rules of conduct for a group of similar hazardous substances in a collective operating instruction and implement them more easily.
- Instruction becomes simpler.
- Those responsible save time when creating and updating them.
Caution
For particularly hazardous substances - such as toxic or CMR substances - individual operating instructions make sense, as the potential harm to people and the environment is high and the correct implementation of protective measures is therefore particularly important.
Among other things, employers' liability insurance associations offer sample operating instructions, but these must be adapted and supplemented to suit the company-specific circumstances. As templates are generally only available as unmodifiable PDF files, those responsible are looking for formats that they can design themselves. A software solution that automatically imports relevant data from the safety data sheet and creates and updates both individual and collective operating instructions at the touch of a button is better than self-created Word templates. QUMsult, for example, offers HSEQ software that meets these requirements.
Conclusion
Operating instructions must be created and updated. Collective operating instructions make work easier, especially if many hazardous substances are used in the company. Suitable software supports those responsible for occupational health and safety and ensures safe and legally compliant work.
