Cleaning & Property Services · Employer knowledge

Chemicals & exposure

Know which cleaning products and other hazardous substances are used at each workplace, control exposure at source, provide the required information and training, and determine whether exposure or health monitoring is legally required.

The Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 require a PCBU with management or control of a workplace to prepare and maintain an up-to-date inventory of hazardous substances used, handled, manufactured or stored there. The inventory includes specified information such as the product or chemical name, maximum quantity, location, storage or segregation requirements and current safety data sheet information.

Workers who use, handle, manufacture or store hazardous substances must receive the information, training and instruction required by regulation 4.5 before they carry out or supervise that work. This includes relevant hazards, safe handling and storage procedures, PPE use, emergency actions and an appropriate period of practical experience under direct supervision. The PCBU must keep a record of that training and instruction.

Cleaning products may also create exposure to substances hazardous to health. Under the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations, exposure must be managed and prescribed exposure standards must not be exceeded. Exposure monitoring is required in specified circumstances where the PCBU is not certain on reasonable grounds whether the relevant exposure standard is exceeded. Health monitoring is required only where the regulatory criteria are met — it is not automatically required for every cleaner or every cleaning chemical.

What should a manager have in place?

Inventory, labels & SDSKnow which hazardous products are present at the workplaces you control, maintain the required inventory and current SDS information, and ensure containers and transferred products are managed under applicable labelling requirements.

Control exposure firstUse the risk-management hierarchy. Consider whether a less hazardous product or process can be used before relying on PPE. Manage ventilation, dilution, dispensing, splashes, aerosols and incompatible products where relevant.

Training & practical experienceTrain workers in the hazards and safe use of the products they actually handle, including PPE and emergency actions, and provide the required supervised practical experience before unsupervised hazardous-substance work.

Monitoring when requiredCheck whether a prescribed exposure standard applies and whether exposure monitoring or health monitoring is triggered by the regulations. Use competent occupational-hygiene or health expertise where monitoring is required.

Manager check

Do we know which cleaning chemicals and other hazardous substances are actually used or stored at each workplace we control?
Is the hazardous-substances inventory current and is current SDS information readily accessible as required?
Have we considered substitution or other higher-order controls before relying on gloves, masks or other PPE?
Are workers trained in product hazards, safe use, storage, PPE and emergency actions, with practical supervised experience where required?
Are incompatible products prevented from being mixed or stored together where that could create a risk?
Have we checked whether any applicable prescribed exposure standard could trigger exposure monitoring?
Have we checked whether health monitoring is legally required for any ongoing work involving specified substances, rather than assuming it applies to all cleaning work?

Monitoring records

Where exposure monitoring is required, regulation 32 generally requires the results to be kept for 30 years; asbestos-related exposure monitoring records are kept for 40 years. Health-monitoring records also have specific confidentiality and retention requirements. These long retention periods apply when the relevant monitoring duties are triggered — not to every ordinary cleaning record.

NZ Hazardous Substances Regulations →NZ exposure & health monitoring rules →WorkSafe hazardous substances →Back to Cleaning & Property Hub

NZQC provides practical educational information. It is not legal advice and does not certify that a provider is compliant. Check the official source and the requirements that apply to your service, contracts and scope.