Category: Chemicals
Today’s workplace uses thousands of chemicals, many of which are hazardous. The resources in this section will help guide you in the safe and legal identification, storage, transport, and use of these chemicals, and in making sure that your employees right to know how to be safe around such substances is provided, as required by law.
Sustainable Futures Program Offers Benefits for New Chemical Developers
A Primer on Toxic Substances
Toxic substances are found in many facilities, and employees can suffer a variety of illnesses as a result of unprotected exposures. According to Understanding Toxic Substances, a guide for employers and employees published by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries: "The toxicity of a substance is its ability to cause harmful effects. These effects […]
Are Corrosives Eating Away at Safety in Your Facility?
Are your workers in danger from corrosive chemicals? If so, give them the information they need to protect themselves. Workers may know that corrosive materials can be hazardous to their skin and eyes, but are they aware that these substances are also highly reactive when they come into contact with certain other substances? Or that […]
GHS Review: Part 2
In yesterday’s GHS review, we talked about compliance guidelines, how GHS has changed HazCom, and GHS-compliant labeling requirements. Today, we review issues involving the SDS and employee training. Manufacturers, importers, or distributors must provide a safety data sheet (SDS) to their customers for each hazardous chemical at the time of the first shipment of the […]
GHS Review: Are You Moving Toward Compliance?
The deadline for training employees on the SDS and GHS labels was December 1, 2013, so you should already have done that. The next deadline is June 1, 2015, when chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors must comply with all the requirements of the GHS rule (e.g., hazard classification, SDS format). Then, by December 1, 2015, all […]
EPA’s New SNUR for Perfluorinated Chemicals in Carpets
What You Should Know About OSHA’s Annotated PEL Tables
Yesterday, we focused on OSHA’s safer chemicals toolkit. Today, we turn to its annotated PEL tables. OSHA recognizes that many of its permissible exposure limits (PELs) are outdated and inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health. Most of OSHA’s PELs were issued shortly after adoption of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, and […]
OSHA’s New Chemical Safety Tools: A Closer Look
Recently, OSHA announced two new tools designed to help employers protect their workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals. The first tool helps employers identify safer chemicals and the second is a web resource called the “Annotated Permissible Exposure Limits,” or annotated PEL tables, which OSHA says will enable employers to voluntarily adopt newer, more protective […]