2.2 Health Hazards: Hazard Communication

The Hazard Communication Standard gives workers and employers information about chemical hazards and the protective measures to use. OSHA's figures, from the time the standard was written, put the number of hazardous chemical products at over 650,000, with hundreds of new ones every year, and the number of workers potentially exposed at more than 32 million in more than 3 million US workplaces.

The idea behind the standard is simple. Workers have both a need and a right to know about the hazards and identities of the chemicals they work with. Everyone who imports, produces, distributes or uses hazardous chemicals must give affected employees information and training on both physical hazards, such as explosive and flammable materials, and health hazards, acute and chronic.

Labels give the first and fastest information, and the safety data sheet (SDS, formerly MSDS) gives the detail that cannot fit on a label. The employer keeps a sheet for each chemical on site, and workers can read it at any time. Since the standard follows the Globally Harmonized System, labels have a signal word, pictograms and standard hazard statements, and every SDS has 16 sections. The general industry book (Part 8) lists them. Employee exposure records, including those of exposure to chemicals, are kept for 30 years.

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