Chemical hazards
The use of hazardous chemical carcinogenic or teratogenic substances, or any highly toxic chemicals that require special precautions to be taken in their use or storage, requires approval.
Please note: If your research or other activity involves humans, animals, biosafety, gene technology or radiation safety you must also obtain ethics approval from the relevant committee
See the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (PDF 508kb, download Adobe Acrobat)
Introduction
You are required to consider biosafety, health and safety issues related to your teaching or research and comply with the legislative and regulatory requirements.
You must gain approval from the Chemical Hazards Subcommittee prior to conducting teaching or research involving the use of:
- carcinogenic, teratogenic or highly toxic chemicals including:
- cytotoxic drugs
- IARC Monographs Groups 1&2 Carcinogens
- heavy metals
- chemicals with a ChemWatch chronic or acute health risk rating of 4.
- large amounts of chemicals with a relatively low toxicity (risk rating of 3 or below).
Policies and guidelines
For detailed risk management information on chemicals, including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) and labelling requirements, visit the web-based version of ChemWatch (ChemGold II). Research and teaching must comply with Chemwatch or other relevant guidelines:
- Access ChemWatch (staff and student access only).
Contact
For research or teaching involving chemical hazards, please contact Dr Euan Smith on ext 25042; email euan.smith@unisa.edu.au
Application forms
Teaching or research involving the use of toxic chemical substances must be approved by the Chemical Hazards Subcommittee. You will need to complete and submit the following forms:
- Application for approval to use hazardous substances for research - RTF (pc) and Word (Mac)
- OHSW 12 Form (Word doc) - Chemical Process Risk Identification and Assessment
Completed application forms must be submitted to:
| Internal postal address | External postal address |
|---|---|
|
Ms Alice Granger |
Ms Alice Granger |
Timelines
Once you submit your application, feedback (which might include the requirement that your application be considered by a full Chemical Hazards Subcommittee meeting) will take a maximum of 10 working days. Please contact Alice Granger ext 23523 or email alice.granger@unisa.edu.au if you have not had a response within this timeframe.
Insurance cover for your project
Approval of your ethics protocol by Chemical Hazards Subcommittee normally means that you are covered by the University's insurance policies in relation to your research project.
However, you must complete the appropriate insurance form and submit it to the University's Insurance Officer if your research falls within one or more of the descriptions below:
- involves a 'professional service' for which UniSA staff or students have obtained qualifications
- poses a physical risk to researchers, students or participants (where injury appears possible or likely)
- involves treatment or testing on human/animal participants
- involves questionnaires/surveys/information gathering in relation to a psychological condition/trauma/illness or history of such, or collection of personal data
- is to be conducted in a hospital/clinic/consultancy/professional treatment area
- involves participation or sponsorship by a third party such as a hospital/clinic/consultancy/professional service provider/other researcher/University
- involves research in remote areas or outside of Australia
- involves Indigenous participants or Indigenous research.
The University's Insurance Officer will provide confirmation of insurance cover for your research project. To finalise ethics approval, you will then need to submit this confirmation to Chemical Hazards Subcommittee.