A substance is considered hazardous if it has one or more of the following hazardous properties:
-Explosive e.g. fireworks
-Flammable e.g. petrol or diesel
-Oxidises (can accelerate a fire) e.g. pool chemicals
-Corrosive e.g. drain cleaner
-Toxic to people e.g. agrichemicals
-Ecotoxic e.g. pesticides or
-A substance that has these properties when it gets wet or is exposed to air.
In reality most hazardous substances have more than one hazardous property. For example, petrol is flammable, toxic and ecotoxic.
Substances can also be hazardous if they are radioactive or contain infectious material, but are not included in Environment Canterbury's rules as hazardous substances. Radioactive materials are managed by the National Radiation Laboratory (NRL) and infectious substances by Public Health.
What do you need to know?
Hazardous substances play an important role in modern farming – they are used to fuel vehicles, control pests and clean milking shed. But if they misused or incorrectly stored they can harm you, your family or stock. Some key things you can do are:
- Keep hazardous substances in their original containers (where possible).
- Always label hazardous substances, keep the original label if possible.
- Make sure you have an up to date Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for all your chemicals – if your SDS sheets are more than 5 years old, ask your chemical supplier for an update.
- Never put hazardous substances in drink bottles – someone might drink it by mistake.
- Store hazardous substances out of reach of small children, pets and stock.
- Dispose of unwanted hazardous substances safely – do not burn then or put then in your farm pit.
Rules and regulations
Environment Canterbury's rules
We have a number of rules relating to the use and storage of hazardous substance on farms - most are permitted activity rules, which means you don't need a resource consent as long as you meet the conditions in the rule. Whether you are a permitted activity or need a resource consent will depend on which chemicals you have and how much you have.
HSNO – Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
HSNO requirements are in addition to our rules. HSNO regulations cover a range of things such as what personal protective equipment someone needs to where, their training and how chemicals are stored. What you need to do for HSNO will depend on what chemicals you have and how much. For more information, contact ERMA’s hazardous substance compliance line on 0800 376 234.