Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR)
The DSEAR policy applies to you if you work with substances that could cause harm to people as a result of fire, explosion or corrosion to metal. They are found in nearly all workplaces and include such things as solvents, paints, varnishes, flammable gases, wood dusts and pressurised gases. The policy applies to any area of the University where a dangerous substance is, or is liable to be, used or present in connection with work. It covers dangerous substances that are purchased and those that are produced as part of a work process.
The policy ensures a consistent approach to looking after everyone's health and safety, by ensuring that those who work with dangerous substances carry out a risk assessment, put measures in place to control and mitigate the risk from dangerous substances, and carry out hazardous area classification where required. The policy ensures that these arrangements are communicated to those involved in the work, or who may be affected by it, and that training in DSEAR is provided. It details the requirement to ensure there are emergency procedures in place for responding to a DSEAR related incident or accident.
HS P015 Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Policy
HS G807 Guidance on Completing DSEAR Assessments
The ‘Large Inventory’ DSEAR risk assessment template is suitable for any work areas and work processes that use or store a number of dangerous substances.
HS F050 DSEAR Risk Assessment Template (Large Inventory)
The ‘Single Substance’ DSEAR risk assessment template is suitable for assessing things such as Uninteruptible Power Supplies (UPS).
HS F051 DSEAR Risk Assessment Template (Single Substance)
The University has adopted a DSEAR Standard that can be applied to science laboratories where flammable substances are handled. If you are responsible for a science laboratory and you put measures in place to meet the requirements of the Standard, it is unlikely you will also need to carry out a full DSEAR risk assessment. If you are not able to meet the requirements of the DSEAR Standard, please contact the Science Schools Health and Safety Team to discuss this. Alternatively, you can contact us in the University Health and Safety Team.
Where you need to carry out a DSEAR risk assessment of your work area or work process, you first need to identify the dangerous substances that are present or liable to be present. To help with this you can use the Dangerous Substances Identification Sheet below. You may also need to identify potentially explosive atmospheres and carry out hazardous area classification. If this is the case, you will need to use the List of Equipment for Area Classification (LEAC) to record equipment within the identified zones. If you are unsure as to whether you need to carry out hazardous area classification in your work area or for your work process, please contact the University Health and Safety Team.