With OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) remaining as one of the top five most frequently cited standards against employers (ranking #2 in fiscal year 2012), now’s the time to prepare for meeting the first compliance deadline of December 1, 2013 for employee training on the revised HazCom standard. 

By this date, employers must train their workers on the new label elements and safety data sheet (SDS) format.  As OSHA states on their HCS webpage, “The standard that gave workers the right to know, now gives them the right to understand.”

In a previous MEMIC Safety Net blog posted in April 2012, a summary of the completion dates, compliance requirements, and effected parties was provided with information on the final rule stage of the revised HCS to align with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).  Since then, several resources have become available to facilitate the training requirements including the following:

• OSHA December 1, 2013 Training Requirements Fact Sheet
• OSHA Brief on Labels and Pictograms
• OSHA Hazard Communication Quick Cards

Additionally, MEMIC policyholders have access to the following:

• Hazard Communication and the Globally Harmonized System Webinar (in the On Demand Webinars section of the MEMIC Safety Director)
• GHS: Globalize Your Communication (available in DVD and streaming video format through the Video Lending Library)
• HazCom and GHS training sessions (available in the BLR section of the MEMIC Safety Director in a variety of formats…handouts, audio presentation, PowerPoint)

So don’t delay and remember to document all safety training as objective evidence of fulfilling your training compliance requirements.      

Posted ByGreg LaRochelle (Retired 2023)