Dangerous Goods & Hazardous Materials Storage & Segregation SWMS

Dangerous goods incidents in ordinary workplaces are rarely caused by exotic chemicals — they are caused by ordinary ones stored next to each other. An oxidiser beside a flammable, a corrosive acid above an alkali, a gas cylinder stored on its side near an ignition source: each is a routine housekeeping decision that becomes a fire, a violent reaction or a toxic release. This document covers on-site storage and segregation of dangerous goods and hazardous materials: selecting and siting compliant cabinets and stores, applying class incompatibility and segregation distances, recognising when placarding and manifest thresholds are triggered, bunding and spill containment, safe decanting, and the register and Safety Data Sheet duties that sit underneath all of it. It is written for workplaces that hold chemicals as a supporting activity rather than as their core business — which is where the control gaps usually are.

Hazards identified

9 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Maintain a hazardous chemicals register listing every chemical held
2. 2obtain and keep a current SDS for each
3. 3make both accessible to workers at all times
4. 4Label every container, including decanted ones, with product name and hazard pictograms
5. 5never decant into a food or drink container
6. 6Record quantities held and review against placarding and manifest thresholds whenever stock changes
7. 7Ventilated store or compliant cabinet
8. 8keep containers closed
9. 9no eating or drinking in the store area
10. 10Segregate strictly by DG class using AS/NZS 3833 and the SDS — never by product use
11. 11flammables in an AS 1940 cabinet
12. 12gas cylinders upright and restrained, away from ignition
13. 13eliminate ignition sources
14. 14extinguisher appropriate to the class at hand
15. 15Bund the store to at least the required containment volume
16. 16spill kit matched to the chemicals held and staff trained to use it
17. 17Decant in a ventilated area
18. 18wear chemical-resistant gloves and eye protection selected from the SDS
19. 19eyewash accessible within 10 seconds
20. 20Bond and earth containers when transferring flammable liquids
21. 21use a pump or tap rather than pouring from height
22. 22Decant over bunding
23. 23segregate chemical waste and dispose through a licensed contractor
24. 24triple-rinse and record disposal of empty containers

Applicable Codes of Practice

Worked example

A maintenance store kept pool chlorine (an oxidiser) on the shelf directly above a drum of brake cleaner because they were both "cleaning chemicals". A minor leak from the chlorine container onto the packaging below produced a reaction and a small fire overnight. Segregating by dangerous goods class rather than by how the products are used — and bunding the shelving — removed a hazard the business had walked past every day for years.

Related legislation

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) — primary duty of care, s.19
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Chapter 3 Risk Management
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 4.2 Hazardous Manual Tasks
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Chapter 7 Hazardous Chemicals (register, SDS, labelling, placarding, manifest)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — emergency plan duty (s. 43)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Chapter 3 Part 3.2 general working environment, first aid and facilities

Frequently asked questions