Hazard Communication

Training Objectives:

After completing this training you should know about:

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What is Hazard Communication?
Why is a Hazardous Materials Communication Program necessary at SUU?
Hazard Communication Written Safety Program.
Safety Data Sheets and Chemical Inventory.
Chemical Container Labeling.
Proper Use and Storage.
What an Employee Must Know.

What is Hazard Communication?

OSHA has established a standard for communicating the hazards of chemicals in your workplace.

The Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) defines what employers must do to handle chemicals safely.

SUU meets HCS requirements by providing:

A Written Hazard Communication Program
Safety data sheets
Hazardous chemical container labels
Training on proper use and storage of hazardous chemicals

Chemical Exposure

Your Risk of Exposure

There are over 3000 different chemicals used on SUU campus. If not properly used, stored, and maintained, these chemicals may be hazardous to you.

Your Right to Understand

You are entitled to a safe and healthful working place and you have the Right to Understand what you may be exposed to and how to protect yourself.

The Hazardous Materials Communication Program at SUU establishes procedures and best practices all faculty and staff are expected to follow and understand in chemical safety.

Routes of Exposure

There are three main ways you may be exposed to hazardous chemicals:

Inhalation, Absorption, and Ingestion.

Inhalation

The action of inhaling or breathing in. We often think of chemical exposure as spilling a chemical onto oneself, or simply coming into contact with a liquid chemical. Although these are examples of an exposure, another common route for chemicals to enter the body is through inhalation of fumes. Depending on the chemical, these exposures can quickly lead to a cough, shortness of breath, eye, nose, and throat irritation, dizziness, nausea, and even upper chest pain.

Absorption

The process by which one thing absorbs or is absorbed by another. Accidental spills or unintentional contact with the skin will lead to exposure through absorption. When chemicals are absorbed through the skin they can cause irritation, burns, and various skin reactions.

Ingestion

The process of taking food, drink, or another substance into the body by swallowing. Most people do not intentionally ingest harmful chemicals into their body. Most ingestion exposures are the result of coming into contact with a chemical or substance with the hands, then eating or drinking food. Proper handwashing and personal hygiene will help prevent exposure by ingestion.

Written Hazardous Chemical Communication Program

The Office of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) maintains written safety programs for SUU. The current version of these written programs can be found on the ERM website.

The written Hazardous Chemical Communication Program outlines SUU’s procedures designed to keep workers safe when there is the possibility of hazardous chemical exposure.

Safety Data Sheets

What are they?

An SDS is a document used to provide comprehensive information about a substance or mixture for use in workplace chemical management. It includes information for safe use and potential hazards with respect to certain materials or products.

Why are they important?

By law, the SDS must be available for reference in the area where the chemicals are being used or stored. To meet this requirement SUU uses Data Sheet Solutions, an online database that gives access to location-specific SDS information for all chemicals on campus. This will be discussed in greater detail in the next section.

Globally Harmonized System (GHS)

GHS compliant SDSs provide details regarding significant health and physical hazards of the chemical. These hazards are denoted by pictograms. OSHA's HCS Pictogram Quick Card shows all of these pictograms and is a good reference for what each pictogram means.

Go to OSHA's HCS Pictogram Quick Card

Health Hazards

Health hazards have to do with the toxicity of a substance and the harmful effects it could cause. Everything is toxic at some dose or another.

Examples:

Skin Corrosion/Irritation
Carcinogenicity
Aspiration Toxicity
Serious Eye Damage/Irritation

Physical Hazards

Physical hazards have to do with substances that could threaten your physical safety by causing chemical reactivity, explosions, or fire.

Examples:

Flammable Aerosols
Gasses Under Pressure
Self-Heating Substances
Oxidizing Gasses

Environmental Hazards

Many chemicals may present a hazard to the environment. It is very important that you dispose of these chemicals according to the instructions on the safety data sheet. The use of the pictogram (pictured at the right) representing this hazard is not required by OSHA, so not all environmentally hazardous chemicals will have it. This is another reason why you must be mindful of the hazards of all chemicals you use.

Chemical Inventory

Maintaining a current chemical inventory is an important and required piece of chemical safety and can inform emergency response and spill cleanup procedures. Keeping the online SDS database updated with current chemical information will help to generate an accurate chemical inventory for a designated area of campus.

SUU’s online SDS database can be found at https://suu.sds.center/.

Visit SUU's Online SDS Database

See this video for a brief introduction to the SUU Online SDS Database.

Container Labeling

A chemical container must be properly labeled to provide information and warnings about its contents.

Three Labeling Systems You Should Know About (dropdown)

Globally Harmonized System (GHS)
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Hazardous Material Identification System (HMIS)

GHS

All chemical containers should have a GHS compliant label, but many do not.

NFPA

The NFPA system is no longer used as frequently as GHS, but it is not unusual to see it still in use.

HMIS

In this form of labeling, the name of the substance would be found in the top white space on the label.

Just like the NFPA label, blue is health and red is flammability and yellow is reactivity, and the higher the number, the more dangerous the hazard. 4 means extreme hazard while 0 means minimal.

What makes this one unique is that the bottom white space calls for personal protective equipment. In this space, one would find a letter instead of a number. Each letter represents a need for a different combination of PPE.

HMIS PPE Index

Here is a list of the letters you may see on a HMIS label and what kinds of PPE are indicated.

A - Safety Glasses

B - Safety Glasses, Gloves

C - Safety Glasses, Gloves, Apron

D - Face Shield, Gloves, Apron

E - Safety Glasses, Gloves, Dust Respirator

F - Safety Glasses, Gloves, Apron, Dust Respirator

G - safety glasses, a vapor respirator

H - splash goggles, gloves, apron and a vapor respirator

I - safety glasses, gloves and a dust/vapor respirator

J - splash goggles, gloves, apron and a dust/vapor respirator

K - airline hood or mask, gloves, full suit and boots

X - ask supervisor or safety specialist for handling instructions.

Things to Remember

Everyone is responsible for making sure that all containers, primary, and secondary, are properly labeled.

Don’t trust an unmarked container. Report all unmarked containers to your supervisor immediately.

If you would like to make labels, contact Brandon Ragan brandonragan@suu.edu.

Secondary Container Labeling

When you transfer a chemical from its original container to a new container and do not use all of the chemical immediately you must properly label the new container. Contact Facilities Management Safety and Risk Management for secondary container labels.

Proper Labeling IS NOT:

What is in this bottle?

Proper Labeling IS:

At Facilities Management we can print GHS compliant secondary container labels on stickers like this which can then be placed on chemical containers.

Proper Use and Storage

It is important to always use chemicals only for their intended purpose. Manufacturer recommendations including SDS information is designed to give users information that can only be appropriate if the chemical has been used as intended.

Make sure to follow all manufacturer recommendations when it comes to safe use and storage of the chemical. Some chemicals are incompatible with other chemicals and should not be stored in the same area unless approved controls are in place. Often incompatible chemicals are listed on the label of a chemical. When this information cannot be found on a product label, you can find incompatible materials listed on the chemical SDS.

What an Employee Must Know

It is Important for You to Know These Things: (dropdown)

Location of the Written Hazard Communication Program, SDSs, and hazardous chemical listing
Operations where hazardous chemicals are present
Physical and health hazards of the chemicals employees use
Where to find the OSHA hazard communication standard
Methods and observations that may be used to detect the presence or release of hazardous chemicals (monitoring, odor, appearance, etc.)
Measures employees can take to protect themselves from chemicals in the workplace

If you don't know about one of these, ask your supervisor.

Quiz

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