Chemical register template for SA workplaces (free Excel and PDF)

South Australia’s chemical register rules are in the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012, made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA). The register is regulation 346 and the SDS access duty is regulation 344, the same numbers as the model regulations. The regulator is SafeWork SA.

There’s no compulsory SA form, so the free template here works for a South Australian workshop or business as it is. Excel, PDF or CSV, no sign-up.

What SA’s regulation 346 requires

The person conducting the business or undertaking at the workplace has to make sure a register of the hazardous chemicals used, handled or stored there is prepared, kept at the workplace and maintained so its information stays up to date. The register must include:

1. a list of those hazardous chemicals, and
2. the current safety data sheet (SDS) for each one on the list.

Workers who use, handle or store a hazardous chemical must be able to get to it readily, and so must anyone else likely to be affected by one at the workplace. Chemicals in transit are left out unless they’re there often or in large amounts, and so are consumer products that don’t need an SDS under regulation 344.

SA penalties: access is treated as seriously as the register

In the version in force from 1 July 2026, both parts of regulation 346 carry the same maximum: $6,000 for an individual and $30,000 for a body corporate. That covers failing to keep the register up to date and failing to make it readily accessible. In Tasmania and the Northern Territory the access offence tops out lower, at $3,600 and $18,000.

The separate duty to keep each current SDS readily accessible to workers and emergency services, regulation 344(3), carries up to $3,600 for an individual and $18,000 for a body corporate in SA.

What SafeWork SA’s own guidance adds

SafeWork SA’s hazardous chemicals page says the register must be prepared and kept up to date, and be readily accessible to workers who work with hazardous chemicals and to anyone else likely to be exposed to one. On safety data sheets it makes two practical points worth knowing before you fill in a register:

• Third-party SDS and databases can add information, but SafeWork SA advises caution, because a manufacturer may not reveal its formulation to a third party. Get the sheet from the manufacturer, importer or supplier where you can.
• Retailers such as hardware and pool shops aren’t among the downstream suppliers who have to pass on the SDS, so a product bought over the counter may not arrive with one. Ask the manufacturer or importer directly.

For workshops, SafeWork SA has a page on hazardous chemicals in automotive workshops covering dusts, exhaust and welding fumes, paints and health monitoring.

SafeWork SA’s register columns and ours

SafeWork SA’s one-page hazardous substance register asks for product name, chemical name, UN number, what the product is used for, maximum quantities stored, location stored, and a tick for “SDS available?”.

Our template covers each of those. Where it goes further is currency: a tick says you have a sheet, not that it’s the current one. Ours records the SDS revision and the date it was last reviewed, works out when the five-year review falls due, and shows which sheets to ask for again. The hazardous chemical register template guide explains each column and how to fill them in.

Keeping an SA register current

Products come and go, and manufacturers revise their sheets without telling anyone. The manufacturer or importer must review each SDS at least once every five years.

• How often should a chemical register be updated?
• How long is an SDS valid?
• Hazardous chemical register requirements, the national detail behind regulation 346
• Chemical register audit checklist, before an inspector visits

Running an SA workshop?

SupplySafe for workshops links each product to the manufacturer’s current SDS, flags sheets due for review and puts the register behind one QR poster that workers and emergency services can scan. Our page for mechanics covers the products a typical workshop holds, and pricing is per site with no per-user fees. SupplySafe doesn’t write or edit SDS; manufacturers and suppliers publish their own.

Other states and territories

See chemical register templates by state, including the Victorian chemical register template, where different law applies, and the NT chemical register template.

Frequently asked questions

Does SafeWork SA have its own chemical register form?

SafeWork SA publishes a simple one-page register with columns for product name, chemical name, UN number, what the product is used for, maximum quantities stored, location stored and whether the SDS is available. The law doesn't require that form or any other. The free template on this page holds the same information plus SDS revision and review dates.

Which law sets the chemical register rules in South Australia?

Regulation 346 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA), made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA). Getting the SDS and giving workers access to it is regulation 344.

What is the penalty for not keeping a chemical register in SA?

Regulation 346 of the SA regulations sets a maximum of $6,000 for an individual and $30,000 for a body corporate, both for not preparing, keeping and maintaining the register and for not making it readily accessible.

Sources

• Government of South Australia, Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (regulations 344 and 346; version in force from 1 July 2026, accessed 3 November 2026)
• SafeWork SA, Hazardous chemicals (accessed 3 November 2026)
• SafeWork SA, Safety data sheets (accessed 3 November 2026)
• SafeWork SA, Hazardous chemicals in automotive workshops (accessed 3 November 2026)
• SafeWork SA, Simple Steps: hazardous substance register (accessed 3 November 2026)