A worker dies of toxic exposure every 30 seconds worldwide, whereas a worker dies of workplace hazards every 15 seconds.
These numbers are alarming indeed. While chemical safety management has always been one of the top concerns of organizations to ensure employee safety and meet regulatory compliance, accidents with chemicals can occur at any time during production, storage, transportation, when in-use, or even disposal. Your organization and surrounding communities can be placed at great risk if chemicals are used unsafely or accidentally released in the environment.
Since the rapid outbreak of Covid 19, limitations and lack of visibility in the workplace have made managing chemical hazards significantly more difficult. While much of the world is still figuring out ways of dealing with the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have already started to emphasize improvements in employee health, safety and well being. Their keen focus now is on integrating safety across all chemical processes. Companies are taking help from Environmental, Health & Safety(EHS) professionals to inspect and approve their facility standards and build awareness and caution among the workforce. In this capacity there will be a need for continuous communication, especially for add-on visibility of when the process is followed and not.
Employers should adopt infection control strategies based on a thorough hazard assessment, using appropriate combinations of engineering and administrative controls, safe work practices, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent worker exposures. Some OSHA standards that apply to preventing occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 also require employers to train workers on infection prevention elements, including the use of PPE.
96%
or more of all manufacturing companies utilize chemical substances to develop their products.
Source: American Chemistry Council (ACC)
Whether it’s the construction industry, mobile device manufacturing, or even pharmaceuticals, there are very few industries and trades in the world that are absolved from chemical exposure. There have even been reports of chemical-related accidents in organizations where it was least expected.
In the US, 90% of all industrial materials and wastes generated from the following four industries:
Hazardous chemicals are found in most consumer products around us, ranging from household electronic appliances such as televisions, refrigerators, and personal computers to home goods such as furniture, carpets, cleaning supplies, and more. On the one hand, we use chemicals to purify our drinking water, increase crop production and simplify everyday household chores. In contrast to this, some chemicals pose severe hazards to human life and the environment if used or mishandled.
For example, the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) is found in plastics that we use every day in our regular life and exposure, which is known to cause hormonal problems.
Figure: 1Your everyday things with hazardous chemicals
Prolonged exposure to chemicals and hazardous physical agents has been to cause multiple adverse health conditions. Cancer is one of the most commonly experienced results. Due to the inhalation of carcinogenic substances, lung cancer accounts for 86% of all premature deaths in the workplace. The yearly death toll of workers has crossed 2.8 million globally due to an unhealthy and unsafe work environment, according to the 2019 UN Report. A worker died of leukemia due to exposure to toxic substances daily. Another worker died of CO2 poisoning.
In 2019, OSHA cited a few events of chemical exposure as damaging to environmental health & safety
Dangers mentioned above and the growing list of regulations from agencies like OSHA and Reach are leading more and more companies to take preventive measures to identify and eliminate hazardous chemicals in the workplace, which pose a threat to your organization, employees, customers, and all other stakeholders involved.
Managing chemical footprint is not just an OSHA compliance but more a civic duty.
Regulatory Compliance has become something that can’t be forgotten, with non-compliance attracting unwanted attention from regulatory agencies – often followed by large penalties as well as a threat to your business’s licenses.
Figure: 2 Regulatory compliance agencies
We covered the penalties involved in a previous article, ‘How Managing Hazardous Chemical Information solves EHS Challenges’ ‘We have noticed that in 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) increased the severity of penalties by 80% and imposed hefty fines ranging from $7,000 up to $12,000 for noncompliance to GHS through 2016-17. For serious violations, the penalties could be as high as $70,000 to $127,000.’
Figure: 3 OSHA penalties for non-compliance
According to OSHA’s recent revision of chemical safety standards, each container of hazardous chemicals needs to be labeled with a set of standardized pictograms in alignment with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The intention is to help workers identify the containers with hazardous chemicals rightly despite language barriers to avoid accidents.
Labels must also provide instructions on how to handle the chemical so that chemical users are informed about how to protect themselves. Specifically, labels must contain the following information: product identifier; signal word; hazard statement(s); precautionary statement(s); pictogram(s); and the name, address, and telephone number of the chemical manufacturer importer or other responsible parties.
Safety data sheets (SDS— formerly referred to as “material safety data sheets,” or MSDS) will require a new standardized look that will help workers anywhere quickly find and understand the information they need. The revised standard requires using a 16-section SDS format, which provides detailed information regarding the chemical. As with MSDS, OSHA requires that SDS be kept in work areas where chemicals are used and stored. Labels offer essential information for anyone who handles, uses, stores, and transports hazardous chemicals, but, of course, they are limited by design in the amount of information they can provide. SDS is a complete resource for details regarding hazardous chemicals.
Some of the things that organizations can do to avoid such fines and unwanted attention from regulatory agencies are relatively straightforward:
Figure: 4Reach compliance measures to control the environmental impact of chemical substances
Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Chemicals (REACH) restriction came into effect on June 01, 2007, to regulate chemicals used in consumer products. REACH has the potential to regularize chemicals.
Under this new law, all chemical companies have to submit a Chemical Safety Report to REACH that includes information on their chemical substances and their effects on the environment, public health, and safety. Chemical companies must register all the new and existing chemicals marketed for commercial use and those exported or imported.
Figure: 5The significance of REACH in terms of numbers is highlighted as below:
The above image depicts the enormous benefits gained in return to REACH’s cost as per the BBC.
In the current day, having the right technology in place can simplify everything we do. Thankfully, most of the issues we mentioned can be taken care of with integrated applications designed from the ground up to help chemical companies easily meet their regulatory obligations for compliance and safety.
Chemical companies’ ideal functioning method is when seamless integration of SDS Chemical Management, Label Management, and DEA controls align with your operational ERP system’s transactions. You simplify the software landscape without additional applications or tools to author Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and print labels anymore.
Ongoing these systems and proper labeling ensure chemical safety for the consumers and the companies handling these chemicals. Utilizing the right technology helps reduce input needed when generating labels and streamline the processes and ensure your organization remains compliant year after year.
To learn more about ICM (Integrated Chemical Management), contact Xcelpros today.
Get a Consultation on Effective Management of Hazardous Chemicals.
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