It is our policy to sell only to businesses with a workplace where laboratory chemicals are used.
ECP Ltd restriction of Sales Information
ECP has a twofold approach to safety with respect to sales to customers of Dangerous goods within New Zealand.
- Safety of use by customers
- Potential misuse of products for the purpose of manufacturing illegal drugs
1.Safety of use by customers
ECP has for sale a number of categories of dangerous goods as well as Non Hazardous goods
Hazardous categories are:-
DG3 – Flammable liquids
DG4 – Flammable solids and solids which are dangerous when wet
DG5 – Oxidisers
DG6 – Toxic
DG8 – corrosives either acids or alkalis
Should any of these chemicals cause harm to those handling them having been supplied by ECP, we will have to answer to WorkSafe New Zealand as to whether we did everything in our power to avoid the mishap.
ECP workers handling dangerous goods have all had safety training and our premises where goods are stored and from where we despatch, have been assessed and we have a location certificate to updated yearly by independent safety assessors. Regular individual and group safety training is required. Any dangerous goods supplied to us or despatched by us will be handled by a competent person.
Business to which we supply hazardous goods will similarly have been assessed and will have trained their staff with respect to safety protocols. This is our expectation and the basis for sending goods to a business. We require the name of the competent person at the workplace who has been declared the competent person by the owner or their designated representative.
Effectively we require all purchasers to open, as a minimum, a credit card account in the name of their business and declare they are a business with a workplace equipped to handle dangerous goods. We will assess all requests and reserve the right, entirely at our own discretion, to refuse to supply should we not be convince of any of the veracity of the information supplied.
This protocol is both our attempt to keep all receivers and users of dangerous goods safe, and our defence should WorkSafe New Zealand ask whether we have been responsibly distributing dangerous goods.
Acquiring an account means you are able to buy dangerous goods, so, even though we may sell non hazardous goods, we cannot run a two tier system to have a category for non hazardous goods only as this has potential to be confusing leading to the incorrect supply of dangerous goods.
2. Potential misuse of products for the purpose of manufacturing illegal drugs
Following is a description of the types of chemicals and equipment potentially used in drug manufacture. It is not limited to items or chemicals named below so as not to exclude novel uses.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 legislation, section 12A references the offences of Possession/Supply of precursor substances, materials and equipment with intent for it to be used for the manufacture of controlled drugs.
- ‘Precursor substances’ are defined in the Act as those listed in Schedule 4 of the Misuse of the Drugs Act (see attached) and include substances such as Hydrochloric Acid, Sulphuric Acid, Iodine, Hypophosphorous Acid, Toluene, Acetone, MEK etc.
- ‘Materials’ are essentially ANY other substance that is not listed in Schedule 4 but which can be used for drug manufacture – this includes many common substances that are used legitimately and illicitly including Caustic Soda, Methanol, Calcium Chloride, Glacial Acetic Acid, etc.
- ‘Equipment’ includes ANY item that is capable of being used for drug manufacture and is intended on focussing on potentially restricted items of laboratory glassware, parr bombs, reaction vessels, distillation apparatus, etc but can also include a range of common household items if located in a lab such as jugs, funnels, pH meters/strips etc.
ECP’s wider responsibility to advertent or inadvertent use of it’s products. And to consumers knowingly or unknowingly consuming goods manufactured using chemicals supplied ECP, is part of our overall safety concerns. Any product request that does not fit with a companies expected product type usage, if it falls within “precursor substance” or “materials” descriptions may be referred to the NZ police and an end user declaration may be required which will be vetted by the New Zealand Police. The police have the discretion to refuse or allow the purchase. ECP will always comply with their request.