OSHA SAFETY DATA SHEETS AND RIGHT TO KNOW

Employees and residents on the Mount Saint John (MSJ) Campus have the right to know the identities and hazards of the materials to which they are exposed and must have a readily accessible Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for each hazardous material.

Employer Training

Employers shall provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment and whenever a new chemical hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area (OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1)).

Hazardous Chemicals

As defined by the 2012 version of OSHA Standard 29 CR 1910.1200 (the OSHA Haz-com standard, HCS 2012), a hazardous chemical is one which is a physical hazard or a health hazard.

“HCS 2012 defines a health hazard as:

...a chemical which is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: acute toxicity (any route of exposure); skin corrosion or irritation; serious eye damage or eye irritation; respiratory or skin sensitization; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproductive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure); or aspiration hazard.

HCS 2012 defines a physical hazard as:

...a chemical that is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: explosive; flammable (gases, aerosols, liquids, or solids); oxidizer (liquid, solid or gas); self-reactive; pyrophoric (liquid or solid); self-heating; organic peroxide; corrosive to metal; gas under pressure; or in contact with water emits flammable gas” (http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/hazardous.html).

Chemical manufacturers are required to determine the physical and health hazards of each product and to make that information available to consumers. The chemical manufacturers inform users about those hazards by using container labels and SDS.

Labeling of Storage Containers

All storage containers must be properly labeled. This means the original container label from the manufacturer must be kept on the container and be legible. When a secondary container is used for longer than one shift, a label needs to be applied to the secondary container. This label must contain two key pieces of information: the identity of the hazardous chemical(s) in the container (e.g., chemical name) and the hazards present (OSHAquickfacts-lab-safety-labeling-chemical-transfer.pdf).

Employee and Resident Responsibilities

Employees and residents of MSJ have the responsibility to read all labels, correctly label materials transferred, follow all instructions and warnings, and inform their supervisor or community director if they cannot read or understand the information or feel something is unsafe.

All MSJ employees and residents who use flammable, toxic, corrosive, or otherwise EPA classified substances are equally liable to comply with the federal, state, and local laws regarding the handling, storage, and disposal of these substances. All residents and employees of MSJ shall provide the necessary SDS documentation to demonstrate compliance with the law.

Documentation and Dissemination

The documentation and dissemination process will be as follows:

1. 1. Each entity director will be responsible for coordinating the development of a list of hazardous materials in their respective areas and obtain an SDS for each. To prepare a comprehensive list, the entity director should survey the workplace chemicals. They come in all forms - liquids, solids, gases, vapors, fumes, and mists. The entity director should look on the container label of the substance. If the chemical is hazardous, the label will indicate this. SDS information is available from the manufacturer or supplier of the material. Most SDS are available online from the manufacturer’s websites and should be printed off from there or obtained directly from the manufacturer.

   2. Each entity director will be responsible for coordinating the placing of a copy of each SDS in a properly labeled SDS binder in their respective areas (e.g., kitchens, garages, work rooms, boiler rooms, mechanical rooms, janitorial supply areas, etc.).