Butch Welch on sun 17 aug 03
>That is not true. Monona just wrote an article in one of the recent
>magazines about what the law is. All chemicals have to be labeled with the
>name of the chemical and the manufacturers address so you can contact them
>for an MSDS. She specifically said that distributors do not have to
>distribute the MSDS.
Cindi,
The intension of my post was to offer a link and to point out that you can
find online information regarding the chemicals you use. You are correct in
the fact it does not have to be with the shipment but the source does have
to be provided. The key word in what I wrote was Industry. If you have
employees in the work place you could fall into to the requirement of
providing information to your employees on chemicals they are exposed to. I
am not an alarmist, but I do believe you should educate yourself as to what
the safety requirements are. Please note the distributor requirements from
the following letter.
I will give the following link for you research. One thing to remember. What
makes sense is not necessarily the law. http://www.msdsonline.com/#
OSHA Guidelines Related to Electronic Management of MSDSs The Rule:
Information Taken from the Hazard Communication Standard Section
....1910.1200(g)(8)
The employer shall maintain in the workplace copies of the required material
safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure that they
are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in
their work area(s). (Electronic access, microfiche, and other alternatives
to maintaining paper copies of the material safety data sheets are permitted
as long as no barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace are
created by such options.)
December 30, 1997
The Honorable Charles S. Robb
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510-4603
Dear Senator Robb:
Thank you for your correspondence of October 7 requesting clarification of
the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) as it pertains to the electronic
transmittal of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs). Specifically, you
requested that OSHA issue guidelines for an acceptable format for the
electronic transmission, storage, and dissemination of MSDSs.
The HCS is a performance-oriented standard, and as such, OSHA has avoided
mandating any one particular format for achieving compliance with the
standard. We have, however, issued general guidance for manufacturers
(including importers and distributors) and employers when utilizing
electronic technologies for transmission of and access to MSDSs. This
guidance follows:
Manufacturers (Importers, Distributors)
1. The manufacturer must ensure that the downstream user has agreed to this
type of information access.
2. The manufacturer cannot require the downstream user to purchase new
technology in order to obtain hazard information.
3. The manufacturer must ensure that some positive and verifiable form of
notification (such as a letter or e-mail) is provided with all of the
information necessary to access the MSDS(s).
4. The manufacturer must ensure that some positive and verifiable form of
notification is provided to ensure that the downstream user is aware when
MSDSs are updated due to significant changes in health hazard information or
ways to protect against the chemical.
Employers
1. The employer must ensure that MSDSs are readily accessible and that there
are no barriers to employee access. This includes ensuring that reliable
devices are readily accessible in the workplace at all times.
2. The employer must ensure that workers are trained in the use of these
devices, including specific software.
3. The employer must ensure that there is an adequate back-up system for
rapid access to hazard information in the event of an emergency including
power-outages, equipment failure, on-line access delays, etc.
4. The employer must ensure that the system of electronic access is part of
the overall hazard communication program of the workplace.
5. The employer must ensure that employees are able to obtain hard copies of
the MSDSs, if needed or desired.
6. In case of emergency, the employer must ensure that mechanisms must be
immediately available to provide emergency response personnel with hard
copies of MSDSs.
Additionally, it has been a long-standing policy of OSHA that the
transmission of hazard information over the phone is not acceptable
Deleted section()
Sincerely
Charles N. Jeffress
Assistant Secretary
Regards, Butch Welch Bwelch1@charter.
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