Dangerous Goods and Hazardous Chemicals are often talked about between suppliers and end users but poisons may tend to get less air-time and it's essential that all chemical handlers know the difference between all three.
A poison is any substance that is harmful to your body and can cause injury or death by swallowing, inhaling, injecting, or absorbing it through your skin. A poison can be identified by a Skull and Crossbones pictogram on the label and it will have a 'Schedule' number listed in Section 15 of the Safety Data Sheet.
The Poisons Standard, which is the legal title for The Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP), is a Legislative Instrument for the purpose of the classification of medicines and poisons into categories, which are known as Schedules. All medicines and poisons in Australia are categorised by how freely they're made available to the public. There are 10 schedules which are arranged from least tightly controlled to most tightly controlled.
Scheduling is a way of sorting out which medicines or poisons need to be more tightly controlled, and which don’t. There are also many chemicals that are low risk which don't need to be scheduled and these are simply listed as 'not scheduled'. It’s not considered necessary to control access to these chemicals, however this doesn’t mean that these chemicals are considered harmless.
The schedule is designed to protect public health and safety and each category has different rules for how a medicine or poison should be labelled, sold, bought, stored, and thrown away. Some chemicals have a higher risk of causing harm than others therefore they have tighter restrictions, however other considerations are taken into account such as ones that are likely to be misused, and the ones that can cause dependence or addiction. Some poisons are even so dangerous that they're not to be used at all.
The Poisons Standard, which is given legal effect through State and Territory legislation, categorises and lists all the medicines and poisons available in Australia and is made available online via the TGA website here. Note that the standard is updated at least three times a year and the most recent will be labelled as ‘In force – Latest Version’. They also have a handy introduction document available that has some good information for anyone new to the industry or new to the standard which can be accessed here - Introduction to the Poisons Standard.
The following schedules are the ones that directly apply to chemicals however Schedule 5 & 6 are typically the ones that distributors and end users will be in contact with.
Schedule 5: Caution Chemicals which are not likely to cause harm. They need suitable packaging with simple warnings and safety directions on the label.
Schedule 6: Poison Chemicals with a moderate risk of causing harm. They need special packaging with a strong warning and safety directions on the label.
Schedule 7: Dangerous Poison Chemicals with a high risk of causing harm in low doses. They are only available to certain people who are able to handle them safely. There may be special rules for selling, using, or storing these chemicals.
Schedule 9: Prohibited Substance Chemicals which may be abused or misused. They are illegal to produce, own, sell or use except if needed for medical or scientific research.
Important Links
While it's not necessary to memorise the whole document, if you handle chemicals at your workplace it's important to be aware of the standard and know how it can be accessed. The following links are the ones that you need.
Hi Matt,
That actually really helped me. I've been with a cleaning company for only a short time and poisons come up during a WHS course that I was required to attend. Noone really offered any clarification and it only added to the confusion of such a large chemical range and new terminology to learn. Thanks for posting this :)
Kat