Environmental
Health & Safety
Chemical handling and safe use pressure you to perform duties you feel are
Emergency and first aid procedures. unsafe or intimidate you into not reporting
your concerns.
Employee Training
Chemical
By law, you have the right to learn Getting Assistance
about chemicals you work with and how to EH&S is available to assist with
protect yourself against their dangers. Be- interpreting MSDSs and determining the
Safety:
fore you work with any chemical, know: safest ways of using chemicals, as well as
The requirements of the standard; locating safer chemicals to reduce work-
The location of the hazard communica- place hazards, selecting proper PPE, and
tion program and MSDSs; monitoring work environments to deter-
How to read chemical container labels mine levels of employee chemical expo-
and MSDSs; sures.
The identity and location of work proc- EH&S also has available guidelines
ess involving chemicals; for conducting hazard assessments and se-
Fire
The physical and health hazards, in- lecting PPE. If respiratory protection is
cluding the symptoms of overexposure required, contact EH&S to arrange medical
to the chemical; evaluation and fit testing.
How to safely use the chemical and ap-
Health Reactivity
propriate protective equipment;
How to detect the presence or release of
the chemical; and
Special
What to do in an emergency, such as an
Hazard
injury or an accidental chemical spill.
The hazard communication stan-
dard is the law. If you feel that the rules Environmental Health & Safety
are not being followed or that you have not P.O. Box 641172
been provided adequate information to Pullman, WA 99164-1172
complete tasks in a safe manner, stop what (509) 335-3041
you are doing and contact your supervisor
Labels and
Wenatchee....509-663-8181
or EH&S. You do not
TriCities.........509-372-7163
have to give your Vancouver.....360-546-9706
name, and all reports
MSDSs
Spokane ........509-358-7500
will be kept confiden-
tial. Never let anyone http://www.ehs.wsu.edu
Think Safety. Act Safely!
World Class. Face to Face.
Chemical Safety chemical exposure. products available for a particular job to
Chemicals can be very useful tools Never use a chemical from an unla- determine which product is the safest to
in doing many day-to-day tasks. However, beled container. If the label is missing or use.
they do pose risks to health and safety. Be- unreadable, report it to your supervisor im- MSDSs should be maintained and
fore using a chemical product, it is impor- mediately. readily available where ever hazardous
tant to know: Never remove or deface existing chemicals are used or stored. MSDSs can
鈥? What chemicals are in the products? container labels unless the container is im- be obtained from the
鈥? What are the hazards? mediately labeled with the required infor- chemical manufacturer,
鈥? What precautions are necessary to use mation. from EH&S, and from
the product safely? various web sites. Always
鈥? What should be done in an emergency? be thoroughly familiar
The Hazard Communication Stan- Secondary Containers with a chemical before using it.
dard requires that employees have informa- When a chemical is transferred to a An MSDS can be in any format, but
tion about the chemicals they are poten- secondary container from the original con- it must contain some specific information:
tially exposed to at work, as well as safe tainer, two items must be transferred to the The name of the chemical
work practices and protective measures to label of the new container: the name of the Name, address and phone number for
minimize exposure and avoid chemical- chemical and the hazard warning. There- hazard and emergency information
related injuries and illnesses. Much of that fore, to prevent injury, it is recommended Chemical and common names of haz-
information is included on the container that the chemical identity and hazard warn- ardous ingredients
label and in the material safety data sheets. ings be copied verbatim from the original Physical and chemical characteristics,
container. such as the color and form (solid, liq-
uid, etc.)
Chemical Container Labeling Physical hazards that the chemical can
Every chemical container must be Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) pose under working conditions
labeled by the manufacturer or supplier Prepared by the chemical manufacturer or (flammability, explosiveness, reactions
with general information on the potential supplier, MSDSs provide detailed safety to other chemicals)
hazards and how to use the product safely. and health information not found on con- How the chemical can enter your body
The label at a minimum must have the: tainer labels. With this information, super- How much of a chemical you can be
name of the product, name and address of visors/employees can determine necessary exposed to safely (exposure limits)
the manufacturer, and the physical and controls such as ventilation, work condi- How the chemical can harm you
health hazards associated with the product. tions, and procedures for using How to tell if you have been overex-
Hazard warnings need to reflect chemicals safely; as-well-as posed (dizziness, skin irritation, short-
physical hazards such as flammability, cor- protective equipment needed ness of breath)
rosivity, or reactivity. Health hazards also to prevent worker contact with How to protect yourself from being ex-
need to be communicated including specif- hazardous chemicals. MSDSs posed, such as personal protective
ics on how employees may be affected by can also be used to compare clothing and equipment
01/02/03
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