Managing hazardous substances

Your responsibilities don't end once you have finished using hazardous substances - you have legal responsibilities to ensure that they are disposed of or recovered correctly too.

As part of your risk assessment, you'll need to carefully consider the treatment and disposal or recovery process. Your business has a legal duty of care for its waste. This means that you are responsible until the waste has either been disposed of or fully recovered.

There are additional legal requirements for the disposal or treatment of wastes and containers used for materials with hazardous characteristics. In Northern Ireland you must pre-notify the Northern Ireland Environment Agency of hazardous waste consignments that you intend to make.

You can use information contained on the safety data sheet that accompanies the materials or chemicals received onto your site to help you determine if your waste is hazardous.

Examples of hazardous wastes include:

• asbestos
• lead-acid batteries
• used engine oils and oil filters
• oily sludges
• solvents and solvent-based substances
• chemical wastes
• pesticides
• fluorescent light tubes