Hazardous materials inventory
AN employer shall make or cause to be made and shall maintain an inventory of all hazardous chemicals, and all hazardous physical agents that are present in the workplace. The inventory required shall:-
(a)  Contain such information as may be prescribed, and in addition shall include:
(i)    toxic properties, including both acute and chronic health effects in all pails of the body;

(ii)   chemical or physical characteristics, including flammable, explosive, oxidising and dangerously reactive properties;

(iii)  corrosive and irritant properties;

(iv)  allergenic and sensitising effects;

(v)   carcinogenic effects;

(vi)  teratogenic and mutagenic effects;

(vii) effects on the reproductive system;
(b)  Shall be prepared in consultation with the committee or safety and health representative, if any, for the workplace or with a worker selected by the workers to represent them, if there is no committee or safety and health representative.
Where an inventory required is amended during a year, the employer, not later than the 1st day of February in the following year, shall prepare a revised version of the inventory incorporating all changes made during the preceding year.

Article 61 (4) of the Act states: Where, under this Act or the regulations, an employer is required to identify or obtain the identity of the ingredients of a hazardous chemical, the employer shall not be in contravention of this Act or the regulations if the employer has made every effort reasonable in the circumstances to identify or obtain the Identity of the ingredients, but has been unable to do so due to circumstance beyond his control.

61. (5): An employer shall advise the Authority in writing if, after making reasonable efforts, the employer is unable to identity or obtain the identity of the ingredients of a hazardous chemical as required by this Act or the regulations.

Except as may be prescribed, this part of the law does not apply to an employer who undertakes to perform work or supply services on a construction site in respect of chemicals to be used on the site.

The employer shall keep readily accessible at the workplace a floor plan, as prescribed, showing the names of all hazardous chemicals and their locations and shall post a notice stating where the floor plan is kept in a place or places where it is most likely to come to the attention of workers.

Hazardous chemical identification and data sheets
An employer shall:-
(a) Ensure that all hazardous chemicals present in the workplace are labeled in a way easily understandable to the workers, or are identified in the prescribed manner;

(b) obtain or prepare, as may be prescribed, an unexpired chemical safety data sheet for all hazardous chemicals present in the workplace;

(c) ensure that the identification required by paragraph (a) and chemical safety data sheets required by paragraph (b) are available in English and such other languages as may be prescribed;

(d) ensure that when hazardous chemicals are transferred into other containers or equipment, the contents are indicated in a manner which will make known to workers their identity, any hazards associated with their use, and any safety precautions to be observed; and

(e) ensure that information is provided on the handling and disposal of hazardous chemicals which are no longer required and containers which have been emptied but which may contain residues of hazardous chemicals; so that the risk to safety and health and to the environment is eliminated or minimised.
No person shall remove or deface the label or identification described for a hazardous chemical.

An employer shall ensure that a hazardous chemical is not used, handled or stored at a workplace unless the prescribed requirements concerning identification, chemical safety data sheets and worker instruction and training are met.

An employer shall advise the Authority in writing if the employer, after making reasonable efforts, is unable to obtain a label or chemical safety data sheet as required under the Act.

Article 62 (5) of the Act states that a chemical safety data sheet expires three years after the date of its publication.   

Inventory and chemical safety data sheets to be made available
Here is what the Act says about inventory and safety data sheets:
63. (1):   A copy of the most recent version of the inventory and of every unexpired chemical safety data sheet required by this Part in respect of hazardous chemicals in a workplace shall be:
(a) Made available by the employer in the workplace in such a manner as to allow examination by the workers;
(b) furnished by the employer to the committee or safety and  health representative, if any, for the workplace or to a worker selected by the workers to represent them if there is no committee or safety and health representative;

(c) furnished by the employer on request, if so prescribed, to the medical inspector of the district in which the workplace is located;

(d) furnished by the employer on request, if so prescribed, to the fire department which serves the location in which the workplace is located; and

(e) filed by the employer with the Authority on request, if so prescribed.
63. (2):  The Authority, at the request of any person, shall request an employer to furnish a copy of the most recent version of the inventory or of an unexpired chemical safety data sheet, as the case may be,

63. (3):  At the request of any person, the Authority shall make available to the person for inspection a copy of any inventory or chemical safety data sheet requested by the person and in the possession of the Authority.

63. (4): The Authority shall not disclose the name of any person who makes a request under Subsection (2) or (3).

63. (5):  In addition to the requirements imposed wider Subsection (1), a copy of every chemical safety data sheet required by Subsection (1) shall be made available by the employer in the workplace in such a manner that it is readily accessible by all workers who may be exposed to the hazardous chemical to which it relates.

63. (6):  An employer who makes a chemical safety data sheet readily accessible on a computer terminal at a workplace shall:
(a) Take all reasonable steps necessary to keep the terminal in working order,

(b) give a worker upon request a copy of the chemical safety data .sheet; and

(c) teach all workers who work with or in proximity to hazardous chemicals, the safety and health representative, if any, at the workplace and the members of the committee how to receive the chemical safety data sheet on the computer terminal.

*The writer is the former General Secretary of the Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) and also a former President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and a former Vice President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC). He served the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) as Research Officer 1983 – 1998.