On June 16th, China’s State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) published the Test Guidelines of Chemicals’ Physical Hazards, an essential supporting document to implement the Measures on the Management of Physical Hazard Identification and Classification for Chemicals (SAWS Order 60).
According to SAWS Order 60, chemicals with unknown hazards should be identified by accredited institutions and by applying test methods in relevant national or industrial standards.
The Test Guidelines were formulated in accordance with the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods -- Manual of Tests and Criteria (MTS), 5th revised edition. For testing of some physical hazards of chemicals the MTS provides alternative testing methods while one of them is most recommended. Only the recommended ones are incorporated in China’s Test Guidelines, while the others are accepted as equivalent methods. In addition, testing methods to determine flammable liquids and oxidizing gases are not included in this Test Guidelines to avoid needless duplication of existing national standards.
The selection of proper test methods to identify physical hazards of a certain chemical and further determination of hazard classification should be made by referring to related China GHS national standards (i.e. GB 30000.2-2013~ GB 30000.17-2013).
To acquire data of physical properties such as vapor pressure, self-ignition temperature, melting point, etc., which are basis to carry out physical hazard identification, testing methods specified in national standards should be prioritized, followed by those specified in industrial standards. Where there’s no established method in China, testing can be conducted according to standards globally recognized or adopted by more developed countries.
