Safe Workplace and Safety News

A proposed rule to align the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) with provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was published in yesterday's Federal Register.

The current HCS requires chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import and provide information to subsequent users. The current standard requires all employers to have a hazard communication program for workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. The program includes materials such as container labels, safety data sheets, and employee training.

A number of countries, including the United States, international organizations and stakeholders participated in developing the GHS to address inconsistencies in hazard classification and communications. The GHS was developed to provide a single, harmonized system to classify chemicals, labels and safety data sheets with the primary benefit of increasing the quality and consistency of information provided to workers, employers and chemical users. Under the GHS, labels would include signal words, pictograms, and hazard and precautionary statements. Additionally, information on safety data sheets would be presented in a designated order.

"The proposal to align the hazard communication standard with the GHS will improve the consistency and effectiveness of hazard communications and reduce chemical-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "Following the GHS approach will increase workplace safety, facilitate international trade in chemicals, and generate cost savings from production efficiencies for firms that manufacture and use hazardous chemicals."

Labels: global hazmat classification, hazard identifcation, hazardous materials, rtk labels

This new safety video uses 3-D animation to show how accumulations of combustible dust at industrial workplaces can provide the fuel for devastating explosions that kill and maim workers, shut down plants, and harm local economies. Excellent quality - 30 minutes in length.



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Labels: hazardous materials, Industrial Safety, Safety Training, safety videos, workplace safety

The California Farmer magazine reports that CAL/OSHA (California OSHA) has "adopted two standards that are the first in the nation to protect workers from zoonotic aerosol transmissible pathogens (communicable diseases)."

Read the California Farmer article here.

The new regulations apply to people who have contact with live animals, or animal products. The regulation states:

"every employer who has employees with occupational exposure to animals or untreated animal products, byproducts or wastes that may be a source of exposure to zoonotic aerosol transmissible pathogens shall establish, implement, and maintain effective procedures for control of zoonotic diseases."

Labels: hazardous materials, Industrial Health

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and two other institutions have described a major step toward creating a universal personal decontamination system for almost any toxic or hazardous chemical.

(In the photograph to the right LLNL chemical engineer William Smith holds a decontamination system currently used by the military -- called Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion -- in the green packet and a sponge from the system. LLNL's Forensic Science Center evaluated 30 different decontamination materials for removing gross chemical contamination from surfaces, including the nonwoven dry wipe material with an activated carbon core sandwiched between two absorbent layers shown in the plastic package.)

The scientists have reported on the development of a layered wipe that can be used to rapidly decontaminate people and equipment exposed to a wide range of military and industrial chemicals, including the blister agent sulfur mustard. These wipes could assist in saving the lives of soldiers and civilians.

Their research results are described in an article slated for online publication today in the American Chemical Society journal, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, a bi-weekly publication.

Under a study conducted by LLNL’s Forensic Science Center, researchers evaluated 30 different decontamination materials for removing gross chemical contamination from surfaces.

The study results showed that a nonwoven dry wipe material with an activated carbon core sandwiched between two absorbent layers turned in the top performance. It is designed by researchers at The Institute of Environmental Health and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University.

The decontamination system currently used by the military – called Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion (RSDL) – is effective for a small subset of industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents.

However, according to LLNL chemical engineer William Smith, one of the study’s co-authors, “By combining the existing military decontamination system with this wipe, there is promise for treating nearly every chemical. You’re in much better shape using both technologies than with either one alone.”

The Lab’s Forensic Science Center evaluated existing and novel materials for their chemical decontamination capabilities. They looked at the ability of the combined system – the TIEHH-developed layered wipe followed by use of RSDL -- to absorb sulfur mustard, a toxic liquid that causes skin blistering, as well as four other chemicals – sulfuric acid, nitric acid, methylparathion and phosphorous trichloride.

The Forensic Science Center studies found:

* The newly developed fabric exhibits excellent resistance to corrosive chemicals and minimizes vapor hazards after decontaminating toxic chemicals;

* The layered wipe can absorb a large volume of most liquids, while maintaining its integrity;

* The fabric is flexible so that it conforms to the surface being cleaned

The next steps for advancing the decontamination system, in Smith’s view, are to conduct field trials of the wipe and RSDL used in conjunction to evaluate their usability, and to test the two systems’ efficacy with other chemical agents and industrial chemicals.

The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2004 and has been managed by the Technical Support Working Group, a joint venture between the U.S. State Department and the military.

Other LLNL researchers who co-authored the study include chemists Carolyn Koester and Adam Love, and former Laboratory employee Garrett Keating.

Labels: hazard prevention, hazardous materials, Industrial Health, PPE

NewsDay Today reports that New Jersey will be "mandating regular reviews for safety upgrades at the 89 most dangerous chemical plants, oil refineries, water treatment plants and industrial facilities in the state."

The article states: "'The only way to make plants safer is to deal with the operations themselves, instead of more guards, gates and guns,' said Rick Engler, executive director of the state Work Environment Council. Engler has led a coalition of labor unions, environmental groups and community organizations pushing for the new DEP rules that went into effect last week. Plants have 120 days to prepare their reviews, if they have not already.

For example, a Schweitzer-Mauduit paper mill four miles east of the New Jersey Turnpike in Spotswood was the sixth most dangerous facility in the state a year ago. The poisonous chlorine gas used at the plant had to be shipped in 90-ton rail cars through town, and the plant's worst-case catastrophe could have endangered more than a million people within 14 miles.

In advance of the new rules, though, the paper mill switched to a chlorine dioxide bleach that can be generated on site as needed. In June last year, the company stopped all shipment and storage of chlorine at the site. "

Labels: hazard identifcation, hazardous materials, Industrial Safety

Most of us don't know what a carbon nanotube (CNT) is, what types of products use them, and what hazards they may present. Wikkipedia defines a carbon nanotube as:

"Their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is in the order of a few nanometers (approximately 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair), while they can be up to several millimeters in length."

"Such cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electricalproperties, and are efficient conductors of heat."

An article by Michael Berger in today's online edition of Nanowerk points out that the workplace hazards of carbon nanotubes are unknown. One of the key problems is that the presence of nanotubes can not be detected. The article states:

"'In our review paper we have raised the need for a better detection platform in the CNT-affected workplace.' Dr. Peter Cumpson tells Nanowerk. 'The quickly rising industrial production of carbon nanotubes highlights the ever-increasing need to have an efficient and effective tool for the detection of nanotubes – because right now we don't. This new tool must be improved compared to the general purpose airborne particle counters that are currently employed, to allow better sensitivity and specificity to CNTs.'"

New materials are being developed at a rapid pace. We tend to focus on protection against new biological hazards, but new non-biological hazards may also be developing, or already be in the workplace.

The Nanowerk article points out that production of carbon nanotubes is "expected to approach several thousand metric tons per year. This means that the exposure to CNTs, especially by factory workers, will increase substantially over the next few years. Since the jury is still out as to the toxicity of nanotubes it appears prudent to at least develop suitable sensor technology to detect CNTs, especially in the workplace."

Labels: hazard identifcation, hazardous materials, Industrial Health

The EPA will be offering a regional Regional Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Regulation Workshop on November 15, 2007. The workshop will be offered via satellite at locations throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In the workshop the EPA will provide detailed information about the current SPCC regulation including:

* oil pollution prevention rules
* who needs an SPCC plan?
* requirements for preparation, implementation and changing an SPCC plan
* required inspection, testing and records
* training and security requirements
* loading and unloading areas
* oil production facility drainage and containers
* secondary containment measures
* transfer operation considerations
* applicability exercises
* financial and environmental impacts of a spill
* photos from actual inspections
* current proposed revisions and deadlines
* and much more

More information and registration is available at: http://www.kstate.tv/epa/

Labels: hazard prevention, hazardous materials

OSHA recently launched a database of information on more than 800 chemicals commonly found in the workplace. The OSHA/EPA Occupational Chemical Database allows users to quickly and easily retrieve information on chemicals such as their physical properties and exposure limits. The database compiles information from several government agencies and organizations, including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Department of Transportation.

Labels: hazardous materials, OSHA