Handling and Storing Toxic Materials
Employers must take responsibility to identify hazards and eliminate hazards in the workplace. Employees should be assured that they are working in a safe and healthful environment.
However, there is at times the inability of the employer to eliminate some hazards from the workplace. In these instances, the responsibility then shifts to the employee to work safely with the information systems provided that specify the nature and degree of hazard associated with the job.
Employees have the Right-to-Know what hazardous materials they are working with, and OSHA provides criteria for employers through the GHS and Hazard Communication Regulations (29 CFR 1910.1200). For this module, we will be working with the following six SDS: Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid, Hydrofluoric Acid, Potassium Chlorate, Potassium Nitrate, Manganese Sulfate, and Petroleum Refinery Heavy Straight Run Naphtha.
Current Event: Chemical Hazards
Discuss with your fellow learners, a chemical handling incident – who was involved (don’t name names), what were they doing, what type of injury resulted, and what do you think the costs were of the incident – in terms of lost time, medical costs, physical pain, etc.Make at least two response posts to other learners in the class.
After reading their incident description, discuss control measures that could have prevented the incidents
For each of the chemicals identified in this module, evaluate each of the SDS for the following information:
Name of the product
List hazardous ingredients
What are the health hazards?
What are the physical hazards?
What are the routes of entry?
What are the physical characteristics of the chemical?
Is this product a carcinogen, a teratogen, or a mutagen?
Identify the PPE to be used during handling.
Identify the storage considerations, can this chemical be stored with any of the others?