Andrew Cross said: I'm putting together a PowerPoint to go through with my staff.
My question is this, I've never been trained or brought up to speed on the prior regulations, in any level of employment. So we are now required to train our staff on this by Dec 1, 2013? What if our staff is gone by then? Are we then required to train all new hires on this next year or are they left in the dark because they were hired after this date? Or do I really need to only train my full time year round staff? My other issue with this is that we don't have any products with the new SDS only the old confusing MSDS, this seems like it is moot time wasting training at this point. I will however go through and train staff to the best of my ability will all the information that the OSHA website provides.
Just looking for other thoughts on this!
After viewing a few webinars on this subject, and actually having my staff watch one today, I am hoping I can answer a few of your questions. I can also say that most of what I know, has come from our workman's comp provider, who happens to be an ex-OSHA inspector.
So, basically your employer, or you for your staff, is required to go through the training with the employees in regards to reading MSDS sheets, etc...as required by OSHA. This is not a new requirement, just an updated format of how things have been done. If your staff is not available right now, then those that are have to go through this training. All future new hires will have to be trained on this as well, just like they have always been required to be trained on it in the past.
As for the new sheets....OSHA requires that you have them readily available. The current standard is having MSDS sheets available for all employees to review. The new standard is the new safety data sheets. Your suppliers should either already have them, or have them in the next couple of weeks from the manufacturers. You are responsible for maintaining them. And no, having a website you go to does not constitute having them readily available. Well, unless every single one of your employees knows exactly where to look and has internet access at all times - 24/7. This is because in case something were to happen, the sheets need to be rapidly available for ANYONE to find and read.