This Standard was prepared by the Joint Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committee CH/9, Safe Handling of Chemicals. Preparation of the Standard was commenced following a request from the Australian Chemical Industry Council that a series of Standards be prepared on the storage and handling of dangerous goods.

The objective of this Standard is to provide users of toxic substances with such requirements and recommendations for the storage and handling of those substances as are appropriate to the interests of safety of persons and property.

This Standard deals with dangerous goods of Class 6.1, as classified in the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, the ADG Code and the IMDG Code. In New Zealand, this Standard also applies to those substances that meet the criteria of Schedules 1–4 of the New Zealand Toxic Substances Regulations 1983.

The series of Standards covering the storage and handling of dangerous goods presently comprises the following Standards:

AS
1596 LP Gas—Storage and handling
1894 Code of practice for the safe handling of cryogenic fluids
1940 The storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids
2022 Anhydrous Ammonia—Storage and handling (known as the SAA Anhydrous Ammonia Code)
2507 The storage and handling of pesticides
2714 The storage and handling of hazardous chemical materials—Class 5.2 substances (organic peroxides)
2927 The storage and handling of liquefied chlorine gas
3780 The storage and handling of corrosive substances
3961 Liquefied natural gas—Storage and handling
4081 The storage, handling and transport of liquid and liquefied polyfunctional isocyanates
4326 The storage and handling of oxidizing agents
4332 The storage and handling of gases in cylinders

The Committee does not suggest that any of the provisions of this Standard are retrospective; however, users should check with the relevant statutory authority where this Standard has been adopted through legislation.

Attention has been paid to the alignment of requirements with the current needs of regulatory authorities, emergency services and environmental authorities, and cognizance has been taken of various publications of Worksafe Australia.

Australian and New Zealand references are separated by a slash (/).

The terms ‘normative’ and ‘informative’ have been used in this Standard to define the application of appendices to which they apply. A ‘normative’ appendix is an integral part of a Standard, whereas an ‘informative’ appendix is for information and guidance only.

Statements expressed in mandatory terms in notes to tables are deemed to be requirements of this Standard.

Notes that appear in the main text of this Standard provide information only.