Only safety regulations designed to protect workers from fall accidents on the job are violated more often by employers than 26 CFR §1910.1200, known as the “Hazard Communication Standard.”
It isn’t happening because this safety rule is not important. To the contrary: compliance with this law keeps workers and others on the worksite safe from horrific bodily injuries in preventable accidents involving exposure to chemicals or hazardous materials.
For details on the latest list of most-often cited safety violations published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), read Fall Protection on the Job Remains Top OSHA Safety Violation for 12th Straight Year and “OSHA’s Top 10: The most frequently cited standards for fiscal year 2022,” written by Kevin Druley and published by Safety and Health on November 27, 2022.
Protection for Workers Threatened by Worksite Chemicals and Hazardous Materials
In a variety of industries here in Illinois and Indiana, workers are expected to work in proximity to things that are known to be dangerous to humans, if not be immediately deadly upon exposure to the chemical or material on site.
Workers may be endangered by these hazards in the air; underground or at ground level; in the water; or as part of the tools, material, or equipment they use in their job duties. These dangers may be in a pure form, or they may exist in combination with other things that may be hazardous or not in their own right. For example, consider silica dangers discussed in Silica Dust Poisons Millions of U.S. Workers Each Year On the Job in Mills, Construction Sites, Railroads, Foundries, Shipyards, Etc.
These chemicals or materials are notorious for quietly oozing out of containers or silently leaking into work areas. Some are susceptible to blowing up, being inherently volatile and risking any number of worker victims to an unexpected and deadly explosion on the site.
OSHA explains that hazardous materials include things like:
- Arsenic
- Asbestos
- Asphalt fumes
- Benzene
- Beryllium
- 1-Bromopropane
- 1,3-Butadiene
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Diacetyl
- Diesel exhaust
- Ethylene oxide
- Formaldehyde
- Hexavalent chromium
- Hydrogen sulfide
- Isocyanates
- Lead
- Mercury
- Metals, toxic
- Metalworking fluids
- Methylene chloride
- Silica, crystalline
- Solvents
- Synthetic mineral fibers
- Toluene.
Recognizing the danger posed to workers by these things, the Hazard Communication Standard (“HCS”) was made into law, creating a legal duty of care for employers to meet so workers can be safe on the job.
The HCS mandates that employers are to know all the chemical dangers at their workplace(s) as well as making sure that all the workers also know about the particular chemical safety hazards they may face in their workday.
HCS Is Commonly Disrespected by Employers with Workers at Risk of Harm
Workers in Illinois, Indiana, and across the country need to know that a shocking number of companies have chosen to disregard and disrespect the HCS even though doing so puts workers at risk of catastrophic injury or death. Illinois’ renown National Safety Council (“NSC”) warns that within the HCS, the following are the top five (5) sections that are most often ignored by employers:
- 1200(e)(1): Employers shall develop, implement and maintain at each workplace a written hazard communication program which at least describes how the criteria specified in paragraphs (f), (g) and (h) of this section for labels and other forms of warning, Safety Data Sheets, and employee information and training will be met.
- 1200(h)(1): Employers shall provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Information and training may be designed to cover categories of hazards (e.g., flammability, carcinogenicity) or specific chemicals. Chemical-specific information must always be available through labels and Safety Data Sheets.
- 1200(g)(8): The employer shall maintain in the workplace copies of the required Safety Data Sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s).
- 1200(f)(6): Workplace labeling. Except as provided in paragraphs (f)(7) and (f)(8) of this section, the employer shall ensure each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace is labeled, tagged or marked.
- 1200(g)(1): Chemical manufacturers and importers shall obtain or develop a Safety Data Sheet for each hazardous chemical they produce or import. Employers shall have a Safety Data Sheet in the workplace for each hazardous chemical which they use.
Keeping Up with Updates to HCS: Comply with International Safety Standards
The HCS requirement became effective in 1983, so employers have been long aware of the need to protect employees from the particular risks that come with asking workers to do jobs in proximity to dangerous chemicals.
Two decades later, the United Nations adopted the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). It contains specific measures for organizing these risks and hazards based on threat levels. The GHS also gives the particular details that need to be provided on various packaging and labels of the hazardous chemicals and what information should be included on their safety data sheets (SDS).
In 2012, the HCS was revised to jive with the GHS. Since the GHS is revised to keep current every two years, OSHA needs to amend the federal HCS periodically in tandem with the GHS.
This means that employers in Indiana and Illinois need to keep up with the latest version of the HCS that is available to them. They specifically need to be aware of the latest HCS that became effective within the last two years. See, 86 FR 9576.
The latest change to HCS from OSHA:
In order to ensure chemical safety in the workplace, information about the identities and hazards of the chemicals must be available and understandable to workers. OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requires the development and dissemination of such information:
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- Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers;
- All employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and safety data sheets for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals appropriately.
Major changes to the Hazard Communication Standard
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- Hazard classification: Provides specific criteria for classification of health and physical hazards, as well as classification of mixtures.
- Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers will be required to provide a label that includes a harmonized signal word, pictogram, and hazard statement for each hazard class and category. Precautionary statements must also be provided.
- Safety Data Sheets: Will now have a specified 16-section format.
- Information and training: Employers are required to train workers on the new labels’ elements and safety data sheets format to facilitate recognition and understanding.
Justice for Workers Injured on the Job from Chemical Accidents in Indiana or Illinois
In our part of the country, perhaps more than other regions, workers go to their jobs each day with an unacceptably high risk of harm or death from chemical accidents. It can happen in any number of industries, from construction; agri-business or farming; manufacturing; steel mills; mining; maritime; railroading; warehousing; and commercial trucking.
There are an amazing variety of dangerous and toxic chemicals on our worksites. Workers may deal with them each day and become accustomed to their proximity. Employers should never be complacent here: there are not only general duties of care and safety imposed by law to keep workers safe, but there are specific regulations with special duties when hazardous chemicals are involved.
Employers who choose to disrespect the dangers of hazardous materials, as many do according to the last OSHA Top Ten list of safety violations, are jeopardizing workers and their families.
If you or a loved one work near any kind of chemicals or hazardous materials, you need to know that the employers have a responsibility to follow HCS. This includes educating you on the risks you face, as well as providing proper Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”); doing daily inspections; maintaining safety regimens that involve reasonable and prudent housekeeping of the workplace; and more.
Should workers be harmed in a chemical accident on the job, both Indiana and Illinois offer state law avenues for justice to the victim and their loved ones. In some instances, federal law may apply.
For more, read:
- Hazmat Trucks in Illinois and Indiana: Increased Risk during Emergency Winter Conditions
- Hazardous Materials on the Job: Ohio Train Derailment’s Warning to Workers in Indiana and Illinois
- Chemical Injuries on the Job: Continued Widespread Failure to Comply with Federal Safety Standard
- Chemical Accidents: Burns, Inhalation, or Neurological Work Injuries on the Job in Indiana or Illinois
- Explosives and Fire: Workplace Explosion Accidents.
Chemicals and hazardous materials can kill or cause permanent injury. Employers are known to ignore safety regulations designed to keep workers safe from these dangers. Illinois and Indiana workers need to know the real risks they face on the job. They cannot assume their company is doing its job to keep them safe. Please be careful out there!
