Chemical risk assessment for Irish workplaces in practice
A chemical risk assessment in Ireland must cover actual work and exposure. Follow the steps, use SDS information and find the HSA template and examples.
A chemical risk assessment records how hazardous chemical agents could harm people during actual work and what controls are needed. In Ireland, employers must complete it and implement preventive measures before starting a new hazardous-chemical activity, under the Chemical Agents Regulations.
An SDS alone won't do. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) calls it a key assessment tool, but warns that a generic assessment is unlikely to meet legal requirements. Your assessment must reflect the task and conditions at your workplace.
Check the current Irish rules
Use the Chemical Agents Regulations 2001 to 2026, including the 2026 amendment. This is an Irish assessment, not a UK COSHH checklist.
The HSA's 2026 Code of Practice took effect on 9 April 2026 and replaced the 2024 Code. Check it for applicable exposure limits. The 2026 amendment removed the original 2001 schedules, so don't copy limits from those old schedules.
Identify the activity and exposure
Start with the job: what happens, where it happens and who could be exposed. Include the quantities stored or used, exposure duration and existing controls. Cover maintenance and foreseeable accidental releases, not just normal operation. These are factors required by Regulation 4.
For each activity, record:
- The hazardous agents involved and their properties.
- People who could be exposed, exposure routes and duration.
- Working conditions, quantities and foreseeable releases.
- Existing controls and evidence that they work.
- Applicable occupational exposure limit values (OELVs) or biological limit values.
- Available health-surveillance conclusions.
Where several hazardous agents are involved, assess their risks in combination. Separate product forms can miss combined exposure. Also assess fire, explosion and incompatible storage risks, as the HSA assessment guidance explains.
Use safety data sheets against the real task
Gather the relevant SDSs and compare their advice with what workers actually do. These sections are useful starting points in the HSA's SDS guidance:
| SDS section | What to check |
|---|---|
| 2: Hazards identification | Hazards and label information relevant to the assessment |
| 7: Handling and storage | Handling conditions and storage precautions |
| 8: Exposure controls and personal protection | Control parameters, exposure controls and PPE advice |
An applicable Irish OELV should appear in section 8. Compare it with the current Irish Code, rather than assuming an overseas or older SDS has the correct value. For an extended SDS, check that its exposure scenarios cover your use and conditions. Employees must also have access to supplier SDSs.
Choose controls before selecting PPE
First consider eliminating the risk or substituting a less hazardous agent or process. Then consider process design, engineering controls and extraction at source where appropriate, alongside organisational measures. PPE addresses exposure that other measures cannot prevent. This order follows Regulations 5 and 6.
Check safe handling and storage, equipment, hygiene, quantities used and how many workers are exposed. Record which measures already work and which still need action. A gloves-and-goggles list leaves the earlier control choices unanswered.
An illustrative chemical risk assessment sample
Consider cleaning machine parts with a solvent-based product. This example is incomplete: it cannot establish whether any real cleaning task is safe.
Identify the actual product and SDS, quantity, application method and task duration. Examine inhalation and skin exposure, ignition risks and existing controls. Investigate substitution or enclosure/extraction before selecting residual PPE. These questions apply the assessment factors and control hierarchy. Without task-specific evidence, don't assign a safe concentration, glove material or low-risk rating.
Decide on monitoring and health surveillance
Exposure measurements are not simply optional. Regulation 6 requires regular measurements, and measurements when exposure-affecting conditions change, unless adequate prevention and protection can be demonstrated. Use an internationally validated procedure. Keep exposure records and take immediate remedial steps when limits are exceeded.
Where the assessment reveals a health risk, apply the Regulation 10 health-surveillance criteria with an occupational healthcare professional. These consider an identifiable exposure-related disease or effect, its likelihood under actual conditions and valid, low-risk detection techniques. Under the 2026 amendment, surveillance is mandatory where the Code lists a biological limit value for the agent. Don't prescribe one medical test for every chemical task.
Write the assessment and assign actions
The assessment must be written and identify measures taken and still required. Required preventive measures must be in place before the new hazardous-chemical activity begins, under Regulation 4.
A suggested record structure is:
- Activity and location, agents and SDS versions.
- People exposed, exposure routes and working conditions.
- Current controls and evidence of effectiveness.
- Further actions, with a named owner for each.
- Monitoring and health-surveillance decisions.
- Assessment date and review triggers.
This structure reflects the legal factors. It is not an official mandatory form.
Find a chemical risk assessment template
The HSA assessment page links its Chemical Agents Risk Assessment Template, Chemical Inventory Template, supporting information and four annotated examples. Use the interactive originals for the examples. HSA warns that printing loses pop-up instructions and invalidates those documents.
HSA says the template is aimed at smaller businesses and is not intended for complex businesses or activities. It is not an approved or statutory form and does not guarantee compliance. Adapt it to the actual work.
RegAffairs AI provides a cited answer on assessing chemical risks in Ireland to help inspect regulatory information, not replace the workplace assessment.
Review when conditions change
Review regularly and immediately if validity is doubtful, work changes significantly, health-surveillance findings require it or monitoring shows an OELV exceedance. Regulations 4 and 10 set those duties.
The HSA recommends review at least annually. That recommendation does not replace the immediate review triggers.