Specific guidance on the safe storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids is available in the Australian Standard, AS1940: The storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids. This standard covers the following topics:

Service stations are a likely place that a member of the public comes into contact with flammable and combustible liquids on a regular basis. Further information on service stations shows how operators can manage their hazardous chemical risks.

Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have specific duties to store and handle their hazardous chemicals (including flammable liquids and certain combustible liquids) as follows:

The repeal of the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Act 2001 has resulted in the abolition of the flammable and combustible liquids (FCL) licences administered by local governments. A licence to store flammable and combustible liquids is no longer required under the WHS Regulation.

Flammablevs combustible

The globally harmonised system of classification and labelling of chemicals (GHS) defines a flammable liquid as a liquid having a flash point of not more than 93oC. A flammable liquid is classified in one of four categories for this class according to the following table:

Flash point

The GHS classifications are now included in Schedule 11 where the prescribed quantities are listed for placarding and manifest thresholds. However, the manifest and placards must reflect the ADG code information as described in Schedule 12 and 13, respectively.

Further information on controlling risks associated with flammable and combustible liquids under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 is available in the Managing risks of hazardous chemicals in the workplace published by Safe Work Australia.

Various notifications for hazardous chemicals are required under the WHS Regulation which are relevant to the use, storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids including for:

The fire and explosion risks page provides an overview of relevant risk controls including managing hazardous areas and hot work activities and controlling ignition sources.

For flammable liquid classifications, GHS categories 1-3 are equivalent to the ADG code packing group I-III. A change is that GHS has introduced category 4 which overlaps with the C1 combustible liquids as defined in AS1940.

An example of flammable liquid category 4 is diesel. Thus, the use, storage and handling of diesel is subject to the requirements of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (WHS Regulation) as a hazardous chemical (Part 7.1). While combustible liquids having a flash point >93°C are not classified as hazardous chemicals and therefore not subject to Part 7.1, they are addressed by the general provisions in terms of hazard identification and management of associated risks, storage of combustible substances (r53), and contribution to fire loads (r359).