BASA Members often get asked whether they can provide a risk assessment for using one of their adhesives or sealants. It’s a fair question, these are chemical products, and safe use matters. But there’s an important distinction:

The manufacturer can tell you the hazards of the product.
Only you can assess the risks of using it in your workplace.

This isn’t a manufacturer avoiding responsibility, it’s how chemical safety law is designed, and it’s the only way to ensure that the assessment you rely on is accurate for your real working conditions.

Here’s why.

The manufacturer doesn’t see your workplace, you do

A risk assessment must reflect the actual conditions where the product is used:

• ventilation and airflow
• scale of use
• duration and frequency of tasks
• PPE policies
• ignition sources
• other chemicals on site
• worker training and supervision
• confined spaces or open areas

Because the manufacturer is not in the user’s workplace, they can’t judge any of these things. Even two customers using the same product may have completely different risks.

The manufacturers job is to declare the hazards, and they do.

The manufacturer of an adhesive or sealant is required to:

• classify the product’s hazards correctly,
• provide a full Safety Data Sheet (SDS),
• show the precautions you need to take,
• share the technical information you need to work safely.

This gives the customer/user the foundation to build a proper risk assessment.

Think of it like this:
The manufacturer gives the user the ingredients and warnings — the user decides what it means for their kitchen.

The customer’s legal duty is to assess the risk in their setting

Health and safety regulations place responsibility for workplace risk assessments on the employer or site operator, not the manufacturer.

That’s because only the user of the adhesive or sealant can answer questions like:

• How many people are exposed?
• For how long?
• In which environment?
• With what engineering controls?
• What else is happening around the task?

A generic assessment from the manufacturer wouldn’t reflect the user’s situation and could actually lead to unsafe assumptions.

One product, hundreds of uses

A sealant or adhesive might be used:

• on a building site,
• in a workshop,
• in a factory,
• in a school,
• in a vehicle repair bay,
• in a confined plant room,
• outdoors at height.

Each scenario has different risks.
This is why one “universal” risk assessment would be unreliable — or worse, misleading.

What the manufacturer can provide to support their customer

Even though the manufacturer can’t write a risk assessment for their customer, they can make it easier for the customer to write a good one.

A manufacturer will be happy to supply:

• the current Safety Data Sheet (SDS),
• technical data relevant to exposure (viscosity, flash point, curing behaviour, VOC content, etc.),
• information on recommended PPE and ventilation,
• guidance on safe handling, storage, and disposal,
• clarification on hazard statements and regulatory requirements.

If the customer’s risk assessment team needs help interpreting the SDS or understanding a hazard classification, the manufacturer is always available to explain.

The goal is safe use — and both the manufacturer and the product user (customer) has a role

• The manufacturer ensures the product information is accurate and transparent.
• The user/customer assesses how that information applies to their workplace.
• Together, we make sure the product is used safely and responsibly.

If a customer needs support understanding the hazards or wants help identifying what information they need for their assessment, just reach out, the manufacturers are there to help.