70% of all OSHA violations involve the hazard communication standard. Is your organization compliant?
According to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), nearly 70% of all OSHA violations involve the Hazard Communication Standard.
Are your SDS's up-to-date and compliant with the new OSHA Hazard Communication Standard based on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS)? The new standard requires organizations with employees who work with hazardous materials to have access to SDS's that are accurate and easily accessible. The OSHA changes will compel all organizations to revisit and revise their SDS’s.
New OSHA Requirements
OSHA is requiring training on the new label elements (i.e., pictograms, hazard statements, precautionary statements, and signal words) and SDS format for all employees who work around hazardous chemicals and other toxic substances. American workplaces will soon receive labels and SDSs that are consistent with the GHS.
Download a Pictogram Training Document
Effective Dates
Employees must be trained on new label elements on SDS's by December 1, 2013. More information on the new GHS deployment requirements.
Employer Responsibilities
Every organization with employees who work with hazardous materials must ensure their Safety Data Sheets are accurate and accessible. The most efficient and effective way to manage SDS’s is to use a digital database. The standard requires that organizations maintain an SDS for each chemical that is easy to access by all employees. Manual processes quickly fall out-of-date because many organizations don’t have the bandwidth to reliably keep SDS’s current and guarantee employee access, leaving them at risk of noncompliance. More information about streamlining your SDS database.
R&R's Risk Management Center Safety Data Sheet track:
- Easy login to a single point of access for all locations.
- All employees can access SDSs from any computer with internet access.
- Archive and print SDSs at your convenience.
- The RMC is fully maintained - no software updates or discs needed!
R&R Insurance Services’ Risk Management Center is a unique web-based software suite of safety and risk management tools designed to empower your organization’s risk prevention efforts. Contact knowledgebroker Jamie Vanderveldt for more information on this valuable resource for your risk management program.
