Office of Chemical Safety

The Office of Chemical Safety website is currently being updated.

About the Office of Chemical Safety

The Office of Chemical Safety (OCS), part of the Office of Health Protection within the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, is responsible for human health risk assessment policy and practice for veterinary medicines, pesticides and other environmental chemicals. The OCS has responsibilities for giving effect to Australia's obligations under international agreements relating to the regulation of chemicals, and for collecting statistics about chemicals.

The Office:

• prepares human health risk assessments of agriculture and veterinary chemicals for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority;
• provides advice on potential human health risks posed by chemicals used in the community and establishes and maintains protective health based standards for chemicals including the scheduling of drugs and poisons and first aid instructions and safety directions;
• undertakes the import and export and national monitoring for prohibited and controlled substances under the National Drug Strategy. The OCS leads chemical policy advice for the Department on national and international chemicals negotiations matters and chemical Treaties including the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions; and
• provides technical expertise and advice as part of Australia’s counter terrorism initiative.

The Office is committed to high performance and customer service, and values excellence, cooperation, innovation and achievement. It is led by Dr Margaret Hartley and is based in Canberra.

OCS Structure

The Office consists of three main areas:

1. Scientific Assessment Services for pesticides and veterinary medicines;
2. Public Health Standards and Control Setting; and
3. Compliance

Scientific Assessment Services

Registration Section

The Office of Chemical Safety Registration and Review Sections:

• provide public health and occupational health and safety risk assessments of new pesticides and veterinary medicines to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) and the National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC) and Advisory Committee on Chemical Safety (AGCS);
• participates in international work-share projects on risk assessments of pesticides and veterinary medicines;
• establish appropriate public health standards for pesticides and veterinary medicines and maintains and publish relevant documentation including Acceptable Daily Intake List (ADI) List and Acute Reference Doses (ARfD) List;
• establish first-aid instructions and safety directions (FAISD) that communicate the risks of pesticides and veterinary medicines' product labels;
• provide advice to international agencies on toxicological issues, toxicology and occupational health ans safety data requirements and toxicology assessment guidelines; and
• provide advice and assessment services to other areas of DoHA;
• provide advice on technical policy; and
• provide advise for public enquiries on chemicals related matters.

Review Section

The Office of Chemical Safety Review Sections:

• provides public health, and occupational health and safety risk assessments of existing pesticides and veterinary medicines to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority; (APVMA), provides advice on human health risk assessment methodology and technical policy;
• establish appropriate public health standards for pesticides and veterinary medicines, safety directions for products and maintain and publish relevant documentation;
• provides advice to international agencies on toxicological issues, toxicology and occupational; health and safety data requirements and toxicology assessment guidelines; and
• provides advise for public enquiries on chemicals related matters.

A review of emergency first-aid treatment of anticholinesterase pesticide poisoning in Australia

A review of the requirement for a supply of atropine sulphate tablets as a first-aid antidote in an agricultural workplace setting. This review and incorporated recommendations were prepared by the OCS and were informed by a working group with clinical practice expertise. This report was considered at the June 2008 meeting of the National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee.

A Review of Emergency First-Aid Treatment of Anticholinesterase Pesticide Poisoning in Australia

Public health standards & control setting

Standards, Policy and Support

The multifaceted importance of the health assessment is reflected in the establishment of health standards to ensure that such chemicals can be used safely. The Science Strategy and Policy Section:

• develops and implements strategies on health risk assessment science, methodologies, and communication to the public;
• reviews national policies, and the controls and strategy development and implementation for chemicals;
• provides advice to the APVMA on adverse experience reporting schemes for pesticides and veterinary medicines;
• delivers national chemical policy interest through collaboration with international stakeholders; and
• provides technical expertise and advice as part of Australia’s counter terrorism initiative.
• Provide briefings and input to chemical policy.
• Cost recovery management and performance reporting service
• Maintain public health standard databases
• Provide administrative support to NDPSC, AGCS and chemical clearing house (CCH)

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Termite protection: available treatments and hazard information about termiticides

Information on termite treatments available in Australia, including hazard information on chemicals approved in Australia for use as termiticides.

Termite protection: available treatments and hazard information about termiticides

National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC) secretariat

The NDPSC is a statutory committee established under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 which meets three times a year to determine the appropriate classification or schedule for drugs and poisons. Scheduling seeks to eliminate or minimise the potential harm to the community from the use of such substances by placing appropriate restricitions on supply. The decisions of the NDPSC are included in the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons (SUSDP) and are given effect through State and Territory legislation. The NDPSC Secretariat:

• provides technical, operational and administrative support to the National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC), as well as sub-committees/working parties;
• provides high level policy and tachnical advice on scheduling matters;
• oversees the publication of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons and its amendments for adoption into State and Territory legislation.

Compliance

The OCS has responsibilities for giving effect to Australia's obligations under international agreements relating to the regulation of chemicals, and for collecting statistics about chemicals.

Treaties and Compliance

The Section aims to maximise the Office’s contribution towards the protection of the health of the worldwide community through ensuring the legitimate end use of narcotic and psychotropic substances, antibiotics, anabolic and androgenic substances and illicit drug precursor substances. The Treaties and Monitoring Section:

• issues annual licences for import and export of narcotic, psychotropic and illicit drug precursor substances;
• issues permits for import and export of narcotic, psychotropic and illicit drug precursor substances;
• grants licences and permits for control of the licit manufacture of narcotic drugs in Australia in accordance with the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967;
• monitors the domestic movement, manufacture and consumption of controlled substances;
• reports to the UN International Narcotics Control Board;
• reports to State/Territory Governments, including stock control reports; and
• reports on annual Antibiotics Import (EAGAR).

Information on the importation/exportation of controlled substances and application forms for import/export permits is available by contacting the Treaties and Compliance Section at tmu@health.gov.au or by calling (02) 6160 3200.
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Environmental Health

Mission: 'To support national environmental health initiatives that will result in improved public health outcomes for Australians.'

Objectives:

To provide funding for environmental health initiatives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through Shared Responsibility Agreements and/or Regional Partnership Agreements in collaboration with the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Indigenous Coordination Centres.

• To facilitate the provision of health advice sourced through the Department’s panel of environmental health experts.
• To provide expert advice on human health risk assessment and toxicology in to national working groups concerned with air quality and assessment of contaminated sites.
• To support the implementation of environmental health projects initiated through the AHPC and/or its subcommittees that align with the Commonwealth’s environmental health priorities. These include, but are not limited to the following:

a. Development of a new National Environmental Health Strategy and associated enHealth workplans for the period 2007-2012.
b. Development of national guidelines and monographs that underpin environmental health policy development and practices.
c. Environmental health workforce initiatives, including the development of resources and workshops that support the professional development of environmental health practitioners and their capacity to implement nationally agreed environmental health policies and guidelines.
d. Strategic research in key areas, such as the impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases, where it is not appropriate for this work to be referred to the NHMRC or other research organisations.

• To contribute to national environmental health policy development by representing the Department on enHealth working groups, inter-departmental committees and bodies as required, with a specific focus on the following areas: Indigenous environmental health, air quality, water quality, climate change, assessment of contaminated sites, sustainable development (eg. urban design travel demand management).
• To facilitate linkages between environmental health stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on linkages between enHealth members and Commonwealth Departments, agencies and regulators.
• To support senior officers of the Department through providing timely briefings on national environmental health issues as required.

OCS contact details

Postal address

• OCS Canberra Office – GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601

Free call

• 1800 170 723

Fax

• 02 6160 3299

Email

• ocsinfo@health.gov.au

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