Login

USERNAME
PASSWORD

Become a Registered Guest Login Help Lost Password?

Are you in compliance with OSHA’s Hazard Communication (or Right-to-Know) Standard? If you use pesticides or any other hazardous materials (including gasoline, cleaning solvents, or paints), it is important that you train your workers and know what else you are required to do.

“Putting together a hazard communication program is much easier now than in the past,” says Barry Troutman, director of technical services at ValleyCrest Companies in Sanford, Florida. “You can pull product labels and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) off the Internet.”

Adds Troutman, whose company has approximately 7,000 employees nationwide, “You can also make it easier by controlling your inventory. We can manage most problems with five or six products. Additionally, you can choose not to use products that are hazardous. We don’t use products that require respirators at our branches.”

Key Hazard Communication Elements

OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1910.1200) requires employers to have a written hazard communication program. Among the key elements that must be included are —

· Training for employees who may be exposed to hazardous materials in the workplace

· A current listing of hazardous materials that you use and their MSDSs.

· Properly labeled product containers

“Gasoline is probably the most hazardous nonpesticide product that we use,” Troutman says. Other products used at ValleyCrest Companies that fall under OSHA’s standard include a number of different fuel products, cleaning solvents for the shop, and certain paints.

Reminder: If you operate in a state with a state-run OSHA plan, the hazard communication program standards you must follow may be even stricter than the federal standards. So be sure to check your state-specific rules.

Employee Training and Safety Audits

ValleyCrest Companies complies with the Hazard Communication Standard’s training requirements by using videos for new employees and by showing the videos to all employees again on an annual basis. “On the first day, we show the new employees a series of videos,” Troutman says. “We also review the MSDSs with them when we use pesticides. For example, before we use Roundup, we review the MSDS and the product label,” he says.

Further, ValleyCrest’s regional safety managers rotate through the branches and do safety audits. “As a technical manager, I also do mini-audits — I check the MSDSs and do pesticide audits,” Troutman says.

“One of the most critical issues we see is keeping the MSDS book up-to-date. Older products or brand new ones are typically not in the book when I go to the branches. You have to look at sheets on a regular basis,” he says.
 
5/05

By Barbara Mulhern, PLANET Safety Specialist