Canadian Occupational Safety

November/December 2020

Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.

Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/1299031

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 20 of 31

www.thesafetymag.com/ca 21 COMPLETE LINE OF STRETCH WRAP IN STOCK – READY TO SHIP π SHIPPING SUPPLY SPECIALISTS COMPLETE CATALOG 1-800-295-5510 uline.ca ORDER BY 6 PM FOR SAME DAY SHIPPING What are the challenges created by SDSs? L. Hallsworth points out the "'information Tsunami' — a supplier must update an SDS within 90 days of becoming aware of relevant information that may affect the way a chemical should be handled. Managing the changing SDSs, regulations, worker turnover, worker health is a challenge." "The volume of information found in a collection of SDSs is overwhelming. A typical workplace has in excess of 100 SDSs. To give an idea of the volume, consider that an SDS averages 12 pages in length. So, 100 SDSs is 1,200 pages of documentation. That is a lot of reading," says R. Hallsworth. L. Hallsworth says employers may often not connect hazards identified in WHMIS with the requirements of the provincial occupational health and safety acts. Furthermore, employers may suffer from a "bystander effect" as a result of the lack of clarity about the role of the SDS. "Many employers believe that suppliers have included all information needed for workers to use the product safety and that workers will read the SDS," says L. Hallsworth, but "it is impossible for suppliers to give specific guidance about how a chemical product is to be used because every workplace has different engineering controls such as ventilation and available PPE for workers." Furthermore, she says that "reading SDSs is time consuming and even with WHMIS education, the average worker does not feel competent to take on the task. They just expect the employer to tell them how the hazards can affect them and how to use the product safely (i.e., chemical-specific training)." In addition, R. Hallsworth says that too many products are not covered by the HPA or WHMIS regulations. This can include products such as pesticides, explosives, drugs, etc. The result of this, he says, is that the information provided by these suppliers is not in the same format or may lack the clarity of an SDS. "The two big challenges that we've seen in the adoption of the SDS format are SDS collection and training," says McFadden. "The keystone in the arch of GHS implementation is training. All your classification and documentation efforts don't mean much if your people don't understand what they're reading or why it matters." McFadden says workers and employers need to be trained to understand both chemical hazards and the GHS approach to classifying and documenting these hazards. Ultimately, McFadden says, "the system doesn't rely on people memorizing all the details — but it does rely on people knowing where to look to find the answers to their questions." "The keystone in the arch of GHS implementation is training. All your classification and documentation efforts don't mean much if your people don't understand what they're reading or why it matters." Brian McFadden, Graphic Products

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Canadian Occupational Safety - November/December 2020