Australia Completes 27 Evaluations Covering 157 Industrial Chemicals (Updated on June 30, 2022)

Updated: 

On June 30, 2022, the Australian Government issued a notice to make public the consultation outcomes of 27 completed evalutations. Each type of the evaluated chemicals has its own completed evaluation statement. In addition, the evaluation statement EVA00076 have been revised and published together with the 27 completed evaluation statements. Click here for more details. 

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On April 22, 2022, the Australian Government published a notice¹ to seek public comments on 27 draft evaluation statements, covering 157 industrial chemicals that are:

• identified as having the potential to pose a risk to human health and/or the environment; and

• unlikely to require further regulation in Australia to manage human health risks.

These evaluations are part of Australia’s Evaluation Roadmap² and are listed in the accompanying Rolling Action Plan³, which are completed under the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019⁴. Each type of the evaluated chemicals has its own draft evaluation statement, mainly covering the subject of the evaluation, chemicals in the evaluation, parameters and summary of the evaluation, proposed means for managing risk and conclusions, etc.

The consultation will end on June 17, 2022. The Australian Government calls for hazard information on any of the listed chemicals and their use information in an exposure category that is different from what has been described in the evaluation statement.  

According to theses draft evaluation statements, there are several kinds of recommendations, including:

1. For ‘1,4-Dioxane’ (EVA00003), it’s proposed that the delegate of the Secretary for Poisons Scheduling should amend the entry in the Poisons Standard (SUSMP). It is recommended that the potential risks associated with the use of the chemical be managed by reducing the Appendix G entry for dilute preparations from 100 ppm to 10 ppm.

2. For ‘Benzalkonium halides’ (EVA00071), it’s proposed that the delegate of the Secretary for Poisons Scheduling should revise the schedule entries for quaternary ammonium compounds in the Poisons Standard. In order to manage the potential risk associated with the use of these chemicals, the new entry should restrict the concentration of the chemicals (singly or cumulatively) in household/cosmetic products.

3. For ‘Lead and lead manufacturing byproducts’ (EVA00026), the routine collection and publication of environmental and biomonitoring data from all facilities that manufacture lead metal and for all impacted environmental compartments are recommended to assist in formulating facility specific risk management measures.

4. For ‘1-Propene, 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-’ (EVA00049), it’s proposed that the specific requirement to provide information as a term of the Inventory listing should be varied under Section 86 of the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019 to align the specific information requirement with the risk identified and considered in this evaluation statement.

5. For the following 15 types of industrial chemicals, the Safe Work Australia (SWA) should update the Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS) to add new classifications relevant to work health and safety, and/or the information in the evaluation statement should be used by a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) at a workplace (such as an employer) to determine the appropriate control under the relevant jurisdictions and Work Health and Safety laws.

6. For the following 8 types of the evaluated industrial chemicals, there are no recommendations since their identified environmental risks are considered to be manageable within existing risk management frameworks, which are provided that all requirements are met under environmental, workplace health and safety and poisons legislation as adopted by the relevant state or territory.

Detailed evaluation statement of each type of chemicals can be accessed from the corresponding link listed above.