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Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness

Key Information

Duration:Self-Paced Learning

Online Learning, completed in your own time at a location of your choice.
Once you have signed up to your course, you have 60 days of accessibility to complete your assessment.

Price (excl GST)

$185 Per Person

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Understanding hazardous substances, recognising risks, and working safely with chemicals in the workplace.

This online awareness course provides learners with foundational knowledge of hazardous substances in the workplace. It covers what hazardous substances are, how they are classified under the Globally Harmonised System (GHS), how to interpret labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and how exposure can impact people and the environment.

Learners will gain an understanding of acute and chronic health effects, environmental risks, the hierarchy of controls, and appropriate emergency response actions.

This course does not award NZQA unit standards; however, it is closely aligned with US31292 – Demonstrate knowledge of workplace procedures relating to hazardous substances .

Key Learning Outcomes:

  • Define hazardous substances and explain their intrinsic hazardous properties.
  • Identify hazardous substances using GHS classifications, pictograms, and signal words.
  • Describe acute and chronic health effects and environmental impacts of exposure.
  • Explain the four exposure pathways (absorption, inhalation, ingestion, injection).
  • Locate and interpret key information on Safety Data Sheets (SDS).
  • Read and interpret GHS labels, including hazard and precautionary statements.
  • Apply the hierarchy of controls to manage hazardous substance risks.
  • Describe appropriate actions for spills, exposures, and emergency situations.
  • Understand workplace responsibilities and escalation procedures relating to hazardous substances.

Entry Criteria:

  1. All students are required to have a level of written and oral English equivalent to NCEA level 1 (year 11) or IELTS 5.5 or higher, to be eligible to attend our courses. The person responsible for making bookings or authorising attendance on the course must agree to these Terms and Conditions prior to acceptance of their student(s) onto the course. Where a student does not meet our English language requirement a reader/writer must be supplied by the student or the person responsible for authorising the student’s attendance. The reader/writer cannot be another student attending the same course.

Course Outline

Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about the Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course in New Zealand.

The Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course is a self-paced eLearning programme that gives workers foundational knowledge of hazardous substances in the workplace. It covers what hazardous substances are, how they are classified under the Globally Harmonised System (GHS), how to read labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS), how chemical exposure affects people and the environment and how to apply the hierarchy of controls to manage chemical risks. Once enrolled, participants have 60 days to complete the course at their own pace from anywhere in New Zealand.
This course is suitable for any worker who uses, stores or works around hazardous substances or chemicals in the workplace, including production workers, maintenance staff, tradespeople, cleaners, warehouse workers, laboratory technicians, agricultural workers, healthcare workers and anyone who needs a foundational understanding of chemical safety. It is ideal for workers across manufacturing, agriculture, construction, healthcare, retail, hospitality and any industry where hazardous substances are present.
Participants learn how to:
  • Define hazardous substances and explain their hazardous properties
  • Identify hazardous substances using GHS classifications, pictograms and signal words
  • Describe acute and chronic health effects and environmental impacts of chemical exposure
  • Explain the four exposure pathways (absorption, inhalation, ingestion and injection)
  • Locate and interpret key information on Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
  • Read and interpret GHS labels including hazard and precautionary statements
  • Apply the hierarchy of controls to manage hazardous substance risks
  • Describe appropriate actions for spills, exposures and emergency situations
The Globally Harmonised System (GHS) is an internationally recognised system for classifying and labelling hazardous chemicals. In New Zealand, GHS is used to classify hazardous substances and communicate hazards through standardised labels, pictograms, signal words and Safety Data Sheets (SDS). Understanding GHS classifications helps workers quickly identify chemical hazards, understand the risks and take appropriate precautions to protect themselves and others. The Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course teaches participants how to read and interpret GHS labels and SDS.
This course does not award NZQA unit standards. However, it is closely aligned with Unit Standard 31292 (Demonstrate knowledge of workplace procedures relating to hazardous substances) and provides foundational knowledge that supports further hazardous substances training. Workers requiring NZQA qualifications in hazardous substances management should consider the Hazardous Substances for Workers or Hazardous Substances for Managers and Supervisors courses.
A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is a document that provides detailed information about a hazardous chemical, including its properties, health and environmental hazards, safe handling and storage requirements, personal protective equipment needed, emergency response procedures and disposal information. The Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course teaches participants how to locate and interpret key information across the 16 sections of an SDS, helping workers understand the chemicals they work with and how to handle them safely.
Once enrolled, participants have 60 days to complete the Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course. The course is fully self-paced, allowing you to complete it at a time and location that suits you — at work, at home or anywhere with internet access.
Yes. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, employers in New Zealand are required to ensure that workers who use, handle or are exposed to hazardous substances receive appropriate information, training and instruction before working with those substances. The Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course provides workers with the foundational knowledge they need to work safely with chemicals and helps organisations meet their legal obligations.
Yes. The online format makes it easy and cost-effective for employers to enrol multiple workers at the same time, allowing teams across different locations to complete chemical safety awareness training at their own pace without requiring travel or time away from the worksite. This is particularly convenient for organisations with large workforces or staff spread across multiple sites.
Safety 'n Action is one of New Zealand's leading workplace health and safety training providers. The Online Chemical Safety at Work Awareness course is an accessible, self-paced programme covering all the foundational knowledge workers need to understand hazardous substances, read GHS labels and SDS, identify chemical risks and respond safely to spills and exposures. With 60 days of access and the flexibility to learn from anywhere, it is an efficient and cost-effective solution for organisations wanting to improve chemical safety awareness across their workforce.

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