Vietnam consults draft regulation on safety management of hazardous chemicals

On July 21, 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) of Vietnam released a draft “National Technical Regulation (QCVN) on safety management in the manufacture, storage, transport and use of hazardous chemicals”, and invited comments on it. The draft will apply to organizations and individuals engaged in activities related to hazardous chemicals in Vietnam, regulating hazardous, toxic, flammable and explosive, and corrosive substances.

Technical provisions

The proposed national technical standard specifically sets forth the following requirements for manufacture, storage, and transport of hazardous chemicals

Risk management of incompatible chemicals

Table 1 in the Annex to the draft technical standard details the incompatibility of hazardous chemicals, and specifies their storage practices as follows:

• No risk of incompatibility (joint storage possible)
• Storage at a minimum distance
• Keep a minimum distance of 5 meters and store in a separate area
• Storage in individual warehouses or shelves

For explosive and toxic peroxides in particular, storage time limits are specified in Table 4.

• “The most hazardous level” substances are to be stored for a maximum of three months before disposal.
• “Hazardous level” substances are to be stored for a maximum of one year before disposal.

The table below shows the risk of incompatibility for hazardous chemicals.