Hazard Communication Term Paper

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Hazard Communication Standard. There are five references used for this paper.

Safety in the workplace is a major concern for both employees and employers. It is important to look at the Hazard Communication Standard, 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.1200 and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) to understand the employer's role and responsibility.

History and Development

The Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) was developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1974, and is "known as the 'employee right-to-know law' (Geigler, 1989)."

The development process was lengthy, lasting until November 25, 1983 when the Federal Register published the original final rule. The original rule covered the "manufacturing segment of industry, and its basic intent was to inform workers about hazardous materials they come in contact with (Geigler, 1989)."

The effective date for industries to implement the HCS was May 25, 1986. The rule was changed on August 24, 1987, covering all "industries where employees are exposed to hazardous chemicals, and this rule has been enforced since January 24, 1989 (131.158.51.236/osha_cd/osha/FEDREG~1/FE5D1C~6.HTM)."

OSHA estimates that "there are over 32 million workers exposed to hazardous chemicals in over 3.5 million workplaces, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) states there are as many as 650,000 hazardous chemical products in these workplaces (131.158.
51.236/osha_cd/osha/FEDREG~1/FE5D1C~6.HTM)."

Hazard Communication

The goal of Hazard Communication "is to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals are evaluated, and that the information concerning their hazards is transmitted to affected employers and employees (Daugherty, 1995)."

Employees must not only be informed, but also understand the dangers of chemical hazards.

According to the Hazard Communication Standard of OSHA, "all employers who use produce, or distribute chemicals must inform employees about the health hazards of the chemicals they work with (Brady, 1990)."

MSDS

It is required by OSHA that Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) be accessible to employees on each of the hazardous substances they may come in contact with during the course of their job. An MSDS is required to "be provided for hazardous products sold commercially to a customer who employs workers (Geigler, 1989)."

The basic interpretation by OSHA deems "a product hazardous if it falls into any of about two dozen categories which include combustible liquids, explosives, flammable solids or liquids and compressed gases (Geigler, 1989)." If a product has a warning label on it, it is considered hazardous.

Products which are not hazardous by themselves can become hazardous….....

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