Introduction
When you think of the term ‘hazardous chemicals’, what springs to mind?
For many people it will be the image of a barrel leaking acid with a large yellow hazmat sign emblazoned across it.
Or you might think of a series of smoking test tubes and beakers in a lab, corroding through whatever surface they are on.
Of course, the everyday reality of working with hazardous chemicals is not so cartoonish.
Many workplaces result in employees interacting with hazardous chemicals on a daily basis, spanning from exhaust fumes in a repair shop or the many industrial chemicals used in manufacturing.
February 2023: Smoke rising from the site of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment after authorities ordered the controlled release of chemicals.
We tend to remember the major incidents. The East Palestine, Ohio train derailment in February 2023 showed us images of ominous black clouds billowing from derailed train cars as 100,000 gallons of hazardous materials (including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate) were dumped.
Further back there are memories of the Chernobyl and Bhopal disasters of the 1980’s.
However, you may not be aware that figures from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) state that workers ‘suffer more than 190,000 illnesses and 50,000 deaths annually related to chemical exposures.’
Chemical risk must be eliminated or reduced as much as possible.
As an employer, managing hazardous chemicals and your employees' exposure to them needs to be a top priority.
So, how do you do this?
Before you start writing up that order for more PPE or signing employees up to every training course under the sun, let's look at ways to effectively manage risk.