Q.01

When do I need a safety data sheet in New Zealand?

In New Zealand you need a safety data sheet (SDS) for any hazardous substance that is used in, or supplied to, a workplace. Importers and manufacturers must have one before the substance first reaches a workplace, and suppliers must hand it over to the workplace. The main exception is consumer products used at work in household-type quantities.

Approach: I searched the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in the datasets; it has no SDS provisions, so the rules below come from the EPA's Hazardous Substances (Safety Data Sheets) Notice 2017 (EPA consolidation as at 30 September 2022) and WorkSafe guidance. I couldn't open the text of regulation 2.11 of the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 on legislation.govt.nz, so the workplace duty is taken from WorkSafe's summary of it.

1. Importers and manufacturers (Notice cl. 5) (EPA Notice)

  • You "must obtain or prepare" a compliant SDS before you first import or manufacture the substance for use in or supply to a workplace.
  • If that is not reasonably practicable, you must do it as soon as practicable afterwards, but before you use or first supply the substance to a workplace.
  • "Manufacture" includes making, preparing, producing, labelling, packing, repacking and relabelling. Repackers and relabellers are therefore caught.
  • You must amend the SDS whenever needed to keep it correct and current. You must also review and reissue it at least once every 5 years after first supply. The 5-yearly review does not apply if you haven't imported or manufactured the substance in the past 5 years.
  • If you also supply to workplaces, the supplier duties below apply to you too.

2. Suppliers (Notice cl. 6) A supplier of "any quantity" of a hazardous substance to a workplace must provide a compliant SDS:

  • when the substance is first supplied to that workplace. A first supply to that workplace in 5 years counts as a first supply.
  • at the next supply after the SDS has been amended.
  • when anyone in the workplace asks for it.
  • when an emergency service worker asks for it to deal with an emergency.
  • when a medical practitioner asks for it, either for an emergency or for a notification under s.143 of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO).

The on-request duties lapse if you haven't supplied the substance to anyone in the past 5 years.

3. Workplaces (PCBUs) WorkSafe, citing regulation 2.11 of the Hazardous Substances Regulations 2017, says (WorkSafe factsheet):

  • You must have an SDS for each hazardous substance in your workplace, "regardless of the quantity you hold."
  • It must be readily accessible in hard copy or electronic form. Planning to search for it online when you need it is not enough.
  • Your hazardous substances inventory must include a current SDS for each substance.
  • If you don't have one, or yours is more than 5 years old, ask your supplier for a new copy.

When no SDS is needed

  • Consumer products used at work in household quantities and in a household way. The supplier duty does not apply here (Notice cl. 6(4)). A consumer product means one packed primarily for household or office use, in the way and quantity intended for that use (cl. 6(5)).
  • Other workplace exceptions WorkSafe lists: substances in transit, and consumer products held in a retailer's premises for supply elsewhere that are not meant to be opened there.
  • Outside the Notice entirely (cl. 3(2)):
    • fuel and other substances inside a vehicle's, aircraft's or ship's fuel, electrical or control system;
    • fuel gas in a gas distribution system, appliance or installation subject to the Gas Act 1992;
    • fuel gas in transmission pipelines subject to the 1999 Pipelines Regulations;
    • dangerous goods while being transported under the relevant land, sea or air transport rule.
  • Group standards and variations: the Notice applies subject to any variation under HSNO ss.77/77A and to the terms of the relevant group standard (cl. 3(3)).

Format and alternative compliance

  • The SDS must follow the content and heading order in the Notice's Schedule. It must state the date it was prepared and, if amended, the date it was last reviewed. It must be in English and readily understood (cl. 7).
  • Importers and manufacturers can instead meet SDS format and content law from the EU, Australia, Canada or the US, provided that law implements GHS revision 3 to 8 (cl. 9).
    • To use this, you must record the jurisdiction you are relying on before you import or manufacture, and keep that record for at least 2 years after the substance stops being available for supply.
    • New Zealand requirements for SDS sections 1, 2(b)(ii) and 15(a)-(b) still apply.
    • GHS elements for Flammable Liquids Category 4 cannot be left out.
  • Suppliers may rely on an SDS prepared this way (cl. 10).
  • An emergency information service's phone number may only go in section 1 if that service has agreed to its use and has been given the latest SDS (cl. 11).
  • The transitional period that allowed older approval or group-standard SDS terms ran from 30 April 2021 to 30 April 2025 (Part C). It has now ended, so the current Notice requirements apply.

If you tell me the substance, I can look up its hazard classification in the EPA's Chemical Classification and Information Database (CCID) to confirm whether it counts as hazardous.

Sources:

Q.02

Can I use an Australian safety data sheet?

Yes, with conditions. The EPA's Hazardous Substances (Safety Data Sheets) Notice 2017 lets an importer or manufacturer meet New Zealand's SDS format and content rules by following Australian SDS law instead. Australia counts as a "specified jurisdiction" for this, "including any state or territory of Australia" (cl. 9(6)). But you must record that choice before you import or manufacture, and the SDS must still carry certain New Zealand-specific details. A supplier can pass on an SDS prepared this way (cl. 10).

Approach: None of the datasets I searched hold the SDS Notice. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is in them but has nothing on SDSs, so everything below comes from the EPA's consolidated Notice (as at 30 September 2022). I did not check whether any particular Australian SDS law meets the Notice's GHS edition test.

Conditions for importers and manufacturers (cl. 9) (EPA Notice)

  • What it covers: if you meet the Australian SDS format and content rules, you "must be treated as complying" with the Notice's format and content rules (cl. 7 and the Schedule). It covers format and content only. Your duty to have an SDS before first import or manufacture, and to keep it current, still applies (cl. 5).
  • Which Australian law qualifies: it must implement the GHS rules on workplace SDS format and content according to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th edition of the GHS (cl. 9(6)).
  • Applying it: you must apply the Australian law that would apply if the substance were for use in or supply to a workplace in Australia (cl. 9(3)(a)).
  • Recording your choice:
    • Before importing or manufacturing, you must make a record stating that you intend to rely on cl. 9 and naming the jurisdiction (cl. 9(3)(b)).
    • You can name it as "Australia" or as a specific Australian legal instrument in force at the time (cl. 9(4)).
    • Each entry in the record must be dated. You must keep the record for at least 2 years after you stop making the substance available for supply (cl. 9(5)).

New Zealand content an Australian SDS must still meet (cl. 9(2), 10(2))

  • Section 1 (Identification):
    • a product identifier that matches the label;
    • recommended uses and any restrictions;
    • contact details for the New Zealand manufacturer or importer. If the substance is imported straight into a workplace for its own use, not for resale, the overseas supplier's details can be used instead;
    • a 24-hour freephone emergency number for explosives, oxidisers, organic peroxides, acute toxicity, skin corrosion/irritation, eye damage/irritation, sensitisers and aspiration hazards;
    • for other substances, a freephone emergency number and its hours if they are limited.
  • Section 2(b)(ii): for substances hazardous to the aquatic or terrestrial environment, the hazard and precautionary information the label needs under clauses 19 to 22 and 24 of the Hazardous Substances (Labelling) Notice 2017.
  • Section 15(a)-(b): the HSNO approval number and, if relevant, the group standard title, plus any applicable tolerable exposure limit or environmental exposure limit.
  • Flammable liquids Category 4: you cannot leave out any GHS signal word, hazard statement or precautionary statement needed for this class. The Notice says this applies "nothing in this clause" notwithstanding (cl. 9(2)(b), 10(2)(b)).
  • Emergency information service numbers: you can only list one in Section 1 if the service has agreed to it and has a copy of your latest SDS (cl. 11). This applies whichever route you take.

Suppliers (cl. 10)

  • If you supply an Australian-format SDS that an importer or manufacturer obtained or prepared under cl. 9, you "must be treated as complying" with the format and content rules for your supplier duties.
  • The same Section 1, 2(b)(ii), 15(a)-(b) and Flammable Liquids Category 4 conditions apply.
  • All other supplier duties under cl. 6 still apply: providing the SDS at first supply, after amendments and on request.

Language: the Notice requires an SDS to be in English and readily understood (cl. 7(2)).

In practice, a plain Australian SDS usually needs a New Zealand overlay before it complies. That means NZ importer contact details, an NZ freephone emergency number, the HSNO approval or group standard in Section 15, and any NZ environmental label elements in Section 2. If you tell me the substance, I can look up its HSNO approval number and classification in the EPA's Chemical Classification and Information Database (CCID) for Section 15.

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Q.03