The REACH Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) is the EU’s fundamental legal framework for chemicals, designed to protect human health and the environment. It covers the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restrictions for the production, placement on the market, and use of chemicals. The REACH Regulation is complemented by the CLP Regulation (Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008), which establishes a harmonized system for the classification, labelling, and packaging of chemicals in the EU, including the use of pictograms, signal words, hazard statements, and precautionary statements.
In Slovenia, the implementation of the CLP Regulation is further regulated by the Regulation on the Implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008, the purpose of which is to ensure the incorporation of the European requirements of the CLP Regulation into Slovenian law and to enable their effective implementation at the national level; while the trade in chemicals in Slovenia is regulated by the Law on Chemicals. According to the CLP Regulation, hazardous chemicals are classified into chemicals with hazardous physical properties, chemicals with hazardous health properties, and chemicals with hazardous environmental properties. In accordance with the law, an employer is required to prepare a risk assessment for the safe handling of hazardous chemicals, the purpose of which is to identify risks and reduce or eliminate them.
In the research section of this master’s thesis, we employed a systematic review of chemicals. To classify all chemicals used at the University medical centre Ljubljana Pharmacy, we first identified their hazards and then classified them into hazard categories. Of the 244 chemicals reviewed, a total of 133 (55 %) were classified as hazardous chemicals. The classification of chemicals into individual categories was performed in accordance with the CLP Regulation. After classifying the chemicals, we also performed a risk assessment for a selected chemical, in accordance with the guidelines we prepared as part of the master’s thesis.
The majority (97 %) of the chemicals examined possess hazardous properties for human health. However, more than a third of the chemicals fall into multiple hazard classes simultaneously, confirming that chemical hazard assessment is a complex process, as individual substances often present combined risks.
|
