Chemicals

In case you missed it, be sure to check out this mixed media article from the New York Times (NYT) titled, “As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester.” Written by Ian Urbina, the piece spotlights worker exposure to an extremely harmful chemical called nPB or n-propyl bromide, which can cause severe nerve damage when […]

This week, OSHA published additional information to help companies get a jump on training employees for the Dec. 1, 2013 HazCom 2012 deadline. That is the date by which employees must be trained on the new label elements and safety data sheet formats. You can access the Training Requirements document here: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3642.pdf Information on labels […]

All eyes are on Canada this spring, as a proposal to align WHMIS with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System, or GHS for short, is expected to be published in Canada Gazette I, maybe as soon as March 2013. Whenever it happens, it will officially put Canada on the final road to GHS implementation. Canada […]

Here are some recent – and not so recent – OSHA activities we’ve been tracking. As well as a couple of news headlines that have caught our attention. RECENT NEWS New Websites and Safety Guides Announced by OSHA In the last couple of months, OSHA has promoted several new websites and guides intended to educate […]

Are you struggling to effectively manage your chemical inventory? Many safety and health professionals are fighting an uphill battle to prevent unwanted chemicals from entering their inventory, such as chemicals on certain regulatory watch lists or chemicals that don’t meet sustainability objectives. Whatever the case may be, customers now have a way to harness more […]

by Blake McGowan, CPE There are many things that are new and exciting when one works at Humantech. There is the standard list; working as part of a team of dedicated professionals, working in foreign countries, being introduced to diverse cultures, a great variety of types of business, and so on. But one thing I […]

For decades, the material safety data sheet (MSDS) has been the back-bone of OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). As most safety professionals know by now, the Hazard Communication Standard has been revised by OSHA to align with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), the result of which will include substantial […]

by Greg Cresswell, CPE What is a Physical Demands Analysis? A Physical Demands Analysis (PDA) is a document that describes the physical and environmental exposures that are required by employees in order to complete job tasks.  They come in many forms and take on many different names.  For example, your company may call them “Physical […]

This round up of news from OSHA and the EPA includes updates  on GHS, I2P2, Silica Standard, the Mercury Standard and the new Greenhouse Gas Map. OSHA OSHA’s GHS Adoption Delayed at OMB — OMB has extended the review of OSHA’s revised Hazard Communication Standard. Best guess for OMB’s final action on GHS is February. […]

OSHA is proposing penalties of up $49,200 for two manufactures and two distributors in Florida for failure to protect employees from exposure to formaldehyde and failure to communicate hazards of products to downstream users. According to the news release issued on September 8, 2011, OSHA inspected the Florida firms based on a referral from Oregon’s […]