The Quiet Hazard: What I’ve Learned About Health and Safety with Dangerous Substances

When I started in health and safety over 14 years ago, my focus was on machinery, heights, and confined spaces things that screamed “danger.” But over time, I began to realize that some of the most severe risks were sitting silently on shelves in chemical stores, beneath sinks in cleaning closets, or being handled casually by staff who didn’t know any better.

Hazardous substances don’t always grab attention. They’re often clear liquids, powders, or sprays that look harmless. But they’re responsible for burns, respiratory illnesses, chronic organ damage, and environmental harm sometimes all at once. And they remain one of the most misunderstood areas in occupational health and safety.

The Moment It Became Personal

One of my earliest wake-up calls came during an inspection of a maintenance area where a chemical decanting station was in use. A worker was transferring solvent into a spray bottle with no label, no gloves, and no ventilation. He wasn’t being reckless he genuinely didn’t see the risk. This wasn’t a “rogue” worker. This was routine.

That image stuck with me. Not because it was unusual but because it wasn’t. It reminded me that the absence of an incident doesn’t mean the presence of safety.

From that point on, chemical safety became one of the areas I paid the closest attention to. It demanded more than a checklist it needed awareness, behaviour change, and systems that worked in real time.

Getting Control of the Inventory

The first serious improvement I ever implemented around hazardous substances was a full re-audit of the chemical inventory. Not surprisingly, it turned up several unlabelled containers, expired products, missing SDSs, and chemicals stored beyond their legal thresholds. But the real problem wasn’t the substances themselves it was that no one truly owned the system.

Once we established a controlled register, matched each item with a current safety data sheet, and applied signage according to classification and volume, we started to see fewer “unknowns” and more accountability. Workers began reporting if something was missing or wrong. Not because they were told to, but because they knew what to look for.

Investigating a Close Call

One incident I’ll never forget involved a routine tank cleaning procedure. A flammable solvent had been introduced into the confined space, and despite a work permit being issued, no one had verified that the ventilation system was working. A worker inside felt dizzy and stumbled out. Fortunately, he was okay.

But it could’ve gone very differently.

We applied the ICAM model to investigate. It revealed that while the procedure existed, the actual practice on site had deviated largely due to informal habits and a lack of role clarity. There wasn’t a single villain, just multiple small failures adding up to serious risk.

The outcome wasn’t just a procedural revision. We re-trained our teams using real examples from the investigation, clarified safety roles, and included a short pause before permit-based jobs for “peer review” a simple conversation to confirm everyone understood the substance involved and the control measures required.

Changing the Way People Think

If your team sees chemical safety as just another compliance exercise, the system will eventually fail. The shift happens when people start seeing it as part of how they protect each other.

I started using storytelling in my toolbox talks. Instead of going through technical data, I shared short stories of real incidents anonymous, but raw. One story involved a worker who suffered long-term eye damage from an alkaline cleaner splash. After that, goggle use during similar tasks went from inconsistent to universal within weeks.

We also changed how we delivered training. Rather than hour-long theory sessions, we started walking the floor, identifying risks in real time, and asking questions like, “What would you do if this spilled here?”

These weren’t formal assessments they were real conversations. And they made a bigger impact than most people expected.

Beyond Compliance

Too often, hazardous substance management becomes about paperwork SDS folders, hazard signs, and audit ticks. But chemicals don’t care about paperwork. They respond only to real-world conditions: how they're stored, handled, labelled, and disposed of.

A compliant label won’t stop a leak. A signed permit won’t protect against fumes if no one checks the fan.

So if you’re working in this space, the challenge isn’t just to have a system. It’s to make sure the system is understood, respected, and used every day.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve worked across industries, with teams of every size, and the lesson stays the same: safety around hazardous substances doesn’t come from fear it comes from

awareness, consistency, and leadership.

If you’re managing health and safety at any level, ask yourself:

• Do your people know what they’re handling?

• Are your controls practical not just policy-based?

• Would you feel safe doing the task yourself?

  
  

If not, it’s time for a closer look. Because when it comes to hazardous substances, the biggest danger is assuming you’ve done enough.