Ordinance No 13 dated 30.12.2003 on protection of workers from the risks related to chemical agents at work
Issued by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy and the Minister of Health, promulgated, SG Issue 8 dated 30.01.2004, in force as of 31.01.2005, as amended, Issue 71 dated 1.09.2006, in force as of 2.12.2006, as amended and supplemented, Issue 67 dated 17.08.2007, Issue 2 dated 6.01.2012, Issue 46 dated 23.06.2015.
Article 1. (1) This ordinance determines:
1. the obligations of employers for provision of health and safety of workers working with chemical agents;
2. the minimum requirements for protection of workers from existing or potential risks to health and safety upon exposure to chemical agents at work;
3. limit values of chemical agents in the air at the workplace specified in Appendix No 1;
4. biological limit values of chemical agents and/or of their metabolites in biological media, as well as the biomarkers of effect, as specified in Appendix No 2.
(2) The values of chemical agents in the air at the workplace and the values of chemical agents and their metabolites in biological media must not exceed the limit values, as specified in Appendix No 1 and 2 .
(3) The values of the biomarkers of effect must conform to the values specified in Appendix No 2.
Article 2. (1) This ordinance is subject to application in all enterprises and locations where labour activities are performed pursuant to Article 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, when the workers are or could be exposed to hazardous chemical agents at work.
(2) The protection of workers from risks involving exposure to carcinogens and mutagens, is subject to application of this Ordinance, in the event it envisions more stringent requirements than the requirements defined by the Ordinance on protection of workers from risks involving exposure to carcinogens and mutagens at work (SG, Issue 94 dated 2003).
(3) This Ordinance applies during the transportation of chemical agents, when it envisions more stringent requirements than the requirements specified by the special provisions for transportation of hazardous chemical agents.
Article 3. (1) The employer must adopt all measures to determine the presence of hazardous chemical agents at the workplace.
(2) In the event of presence of hazardous chemical agents a risk assessment must be executed regarding the health and safety of workers pursuant to Ordinance No 5 dated 1999 on the order, manner, and recurrence of risk assessment execution (SG Issue 47 dated 1999), taking the following into account:
1. hazardous properties of chemical agents;
2. (As amended – SG, Issue 46 dated 2015) health and safety information, including the data from the safety data sheet, executed in line with the requirements of Annex ІІ to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council dated December 18th, 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive No 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94, as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (OJ L 396 dated 30.12.2006) (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006), provided by the supplier of the substance or mixture or by each participant in the supply chain, required to perform risk assessment of the chemical substance or mixture;
3. the degree/level, type, and duration of exposure;
4. the conditions of work with hazardous chemical agents, as well as their quantities;
5. the limit values indicated in Appendix No 1 and 2;
6. the effect of the protective measures undertaken or subject to undertaking;
7. the conclusions of the health surveillance in cases with available data.
(3) The employer must assess the conformity of adopted measures to the requirements of Article 8, 9, 10, and 11.
(4) (As amended – SG, Issue 46 dated 2015) The producers/manufacturers, importers, and participants in the supply chain for chemical agents are obligated upon request to provide the employer:
1. complete information pursuant to Article 3, Paragraph 2, Item 2 on hazardous chemical agents required for execution of risk assessment of workers;
2. other available information required for the specific risk assessment of users, for the provision of which obligations were not introduced in Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 and Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council regarding the classification, labeling, and packaging of substances and mixtures, for amendment and repeal of Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC and amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353 dated 31.12.2008) (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008).
Article 4. (1) The employer must document the risk assessment pursuant to the requirements of Article 20 of Ordinance No 5 on the order, manner, and recurrence for risk assessment execution. The assessment may contain substantiation that the nature and scope of risks connected to chemical agents do not require more detailed assessment.
(2) The health and safety risk assessment must be subjected to review pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance No 5 on the order, manner, and recurrence for risk assessment execution, as well as based upon the results of the health surveillance.
Article 5. During the risk assessment the repair activities, unplanned, but foreseeable events, the possibilities for arising of industrial accidents, and activities, which could lead by way of other reasons to unfavorable health and safety effects regardless of the adopted technical measures, must be taken into account.
Article 6. (1) During activities including exposure to several hazardous chemical agents, their combined action must be subjected to assessment.
(2) During the simultaneous determination at the air of the workplace of several hazardous chemical agents with unidirectional action, the sum of relations of factual concentrations of each agent (c1, c2 ..... cn) in the air at the workplace to the respective limit value of the chemical agents (limit value 1, limit value 2 ..... limit value n) must not exceed 1:
С1 / С2 / Сn–––––– / + / –––––– / + / ..... + / –––––– / ? 1.
limit value 1 / limit value 2 / limit value
n
(3) During the simultaneous determination in the air of the workplace of several hazardous chemical actions with multidirectional action, the limit values shall remain the same as under their isolated action.
Article 7. The work including contact with hazardous chemical agents shall commence after risk assessment for health and safety of workers and adoption of all requisite protective measures.
Article 8. The employer must prevent or reduce to a minimum the risk to health and safety of workers during work with hazardous chemical agents by implementing:
1. design and organization of suitable work processes and workplaces;
2. supply and provision of suitable equipment, protective equipment and respective maintenance, ensuring health and safety during work;
3. limitation of number of workers, who are or could be exposed;
4. reduction to a minimum the duration and level of exposure;
5. adoption of hygienic measures for prevention or reduction of possibility for exposure to hazardous chemical agents;
6. limitation of quantities of chemical agents to the minimum required for performance of a specific type of work;
7. procedures for safe work, storage, and transportation of hazardous chemical agents, as well as waste, containing such agents.
Article 9. (1) In cases when risk assessment results indicate risk to health and safety of workers, the employer must apply the specific protection measures pursuant to Article 10, 11, and 12 and must provide health surveillance.
(2) ) In cases when risk assessment results indicate that due t the quantity of present hazardous chemical agents at the workplace the risk to the health and safety of workers is insignificant and adopted measures pursuant to Article 8 are adequate for reduction of said risk, the employer may not apply the measures pursuant to Article 10, 11, and 12.
Article 10. (1) The employer is obligated to prevent or reduce to the possible minimum the risk to health and safety of workers working with hazardous chemical agents by their replacement with chemical agents or processes, which are not hazardous or are less hazardous, when the nature of the performed works permits these actions.
(2) When the nature of the work does not permit risk elimination by way of replacement, the employer must apply safety and protection measures:
1. organization of suitable work processes and control facilities, as well as the use of suitable equipment and materials, in order to avoid or reduce to a minimum the formation/emission of hazardous chemical agents;
2. application of collective protection measures at the source of the risk, such as effective ventilation and suitable organizational measures;
3. application of individual protective equipment, including persona protective equipment, when prevention of exposure to hazardous chemical agents is impossible in any other way.
(3) The measures pursuant to Paragraph 1 and 2 are supplemented by the health surveillance and are coordinated in line with the nature of the risk.
(4) The employer must perform periodic measurements of chemical agents, which may lead to risk for health and safety of workers at the workplace, and must compare these to the limit values specified in Appendix No 1, when:
1. assessment cannot be performed in any other way of effectiveness of adopted safety and protection measures pursuant to Paragraph 2;
2. change arises in conditions, which may lead to changes of the exposure.
(5) The employer must consider the results of the measurements pursuant to Paragraph 4 upon execution of its obligations for assessment of health and safety risk to workers.
(6) In the event limit values are exceeded for chemical agents at the workplace, the employer must immediately undertake protective measures, taking into account the degree and nature of exceeded limit values.
Article 11. (1) The employer is obligated to undertake requisite technical and/or organizational measures (separation of incompatible chemical agents, suitable storage, etc.), in order to provide protection to workers against the hazards, connected to the physicochemical properties of the chemical agents, including to:
1. prevent the presence of hazardous concentrations of flammable substances and hazardous quantities of chemically unstable substances at the workplace;
2. prevent the presence of sources of ignition, which may lead to fire and explosion, or disallow the formation of unfavorable conditions, under which the chemically unstable substances or their mixtures could give rise to harmful physical effects, when the nature of work does not permit performance of the provisions pursuant to Item 1;
3. reduce harmful effects to health and safety of workers in the event of fire or explosion of flammable substances or harmful physical effects, caused by chemically unstable substances or their mixtures.
(2) The work/operating equipment and protection systems, provided on part of employer, must conform to the requirements contained in the normative deeds applicable to that equipment, connected to the conformity assessment. The technical and/or organizational measures, adopted on part of employer, must be coordinated in line with the requirements of the Ordinance on essential requirements for conformity assessment of facilities and systems for protection, intended for use in potentially explosive atmosphere (SG, Issue 81 dated 2001).
(3) In the events of risk риск from formation of potentially explosive atmosphere, the employer must implement control of the work equipment and must provide protection systems.
Article 12. (1) The employer must prepare an action plan for prevention and liquidation of breakdowns, incidents, and accidents, connected to hazardous chemical agents at the workplace.
(2) The action plan must include, not less than once a year, emergency safety training and supply of means/equipment and conditions for first aid provision.
(3) In case of breakdowns, incidents, and accidents involving hazardous chemical agents the employer is obligated to:
1. immediately notify workers;
2. apply suitable measures for liquidation of consequences;
3. admit in the affected zone only workers engaged in the performance of rehabilitation and other urgent works.
(4) The employer must provide workers pursuant to Item 3 personal protective equipment, specialized protective equipment, equipment and measuring devices, specified by type and quantity in the emergency plan, used during the emergency situation.
(5) The presence of unprotected persons in the affected zone is disallowed.
(6) The employer must provide warning and other communication systems required for signaling of elevated risk to health and safety for undertaking actions pertaining to liquidation of consequences, provision of first aid, evacuation, and immediate rescue operations, if required.
(7) The employer must provide information to officials at the enterprise and to external authorities and organizations (emergency services, urgent medical aid, etc.), which shall contain:
1. established hazards during work, classification of hazards under priority order, envisioned protective measures and procedures, based upon which the external authorities and organizations shall develop corresponding measures and procedures;
2. expected specific risks during the time of breakdowns, incidents, and accidents involving hazardous chemical agents, including procedures for their prevention and liquidation.
Article 13. The employer must provide workers and/or their representatives:
1. information regarding the risk assessment, along with additional data for setting in material changes at the workplace, leading to risk assessment’s modification;
2. data regarding the hazardous chemical agents during work, risk to health and safety, respective limit values and other legal requirements;
3. training and information regarding the respective protective measures and actions, subject to undertaking for self-protection, as well as for protection of remaining workers;
4. (As amended – SG, Issue 46 dated 2015) access to safety data sheets of used chemical agents, provided on part of suppliers in line with the provisions of Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006;
5. reliability and updates of information, which may be provided in different form, depending on the nature and level of risk – from verbal notification to individual training, supported by written information.
Article 14. The employer is obligated to provide markings of containers and pipelines, indicating the type of hazardous chemical agents they contain along with the respective hazards.
Article 15. (1) The employer must disallow the production and use of chemical agents specified in Appendix No 3, as well as activities connected to said agents.