Safety Compliance: Reliable Internet Resources

By Kathy L. Pursley
Associate Editor

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offers a web site crammed full of useful safety compliance information. Visitors to the website do not have to worry that visiting OSHA's web pages (unlike telephone inquiries in the past) might cause an increased level of scrutiny or trigger inspections.

A useful page at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) web site is http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC /index.html. This page offers links that connect within OSHA's web site and also outside to additional sources that provide a wealth of resource and reference material.

For safety topics that must be re-trained every year, this page provides links to additional training materials that offer concise and complete information. Some of the modules offer overhead slides, handouts, advisories and tests.

Confined Space Checklist

Scroll downward through the topics on the page and click on the link for confined spaces. Listed under the topic Evaluation, find the link Confined-Space Preentry Checklist, which links to the Department of Energy. The checklist can be incorporated into procedure manuals and training materials.

Hazard Communication Training

Hazard communication annually requires workers to receive training on how to review Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). This makes sure workers can comprehend all the information on the sheets in order to handle chemicals properly. The Oklahoma State University (OSU) website lists the categories of information found on an MSDS and explains and defines the meaning of the information within each category. The address is http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/modules/msds.htm. A link near the bottom of the page navigates to a quiz that can document MSDS training for OSHA compliance.

The MSDS learning module is just a small part of a wealth of training resources from the OSU Environmental Health and Safety program. A link at the end of the quiz connects to the training modules home page at http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/modules/home.htm. Available modules include Asbestos Awareness, Back Safety, Bloodborne Pathogens, Compressed Gas Cylinders, and more.

The forms, procedures and training modules are the same ones used by the university to train its own staff.

For a number of years the university has offered the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager training program and certification test, and these modules represent the caliber of training available in that program.

The home page located at http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/index. htm provides links to all the information offered by the OSU Environmental Health & Safety web site.

Material Safety Data Sheets

Another location for finding safety related chemical information and training materials is the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health web site, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage. html. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The organization forms part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and holds the distinction of being the only federal institute responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries.

To find Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) at the NIOSH homepage, select databases, then select International Chemical Safety Cards (WHO/IPCS/ILO). Under International English Version, select Index With Chemical Names* And Synonyms. Select the first letter of the chemical name to view a listing of all chemicals and synonyms beginning with that letter that have MSDS in the database. Scroll or page down to the chemical of interest.

Clicking on the number under the ICSC column located to the left of the chemical name brings up the selected MSDS. These can be printed for updating MSDS directories and for training.

More MSDS

The page located at http://msds.pdc. cornell.edu/msdssrch.asp is a searchable database of over 250,000 MSDS files. Scrolling down the page reveals a second searchable database of MSDS. Type in chlorine and click Submit Query.

The search will return as many as 13,762 MSDS for various forms of chlorine. Click on the first link, LCP Chemicals -- Chlorine, Compressed Chlorine to view the MSDS for chlorine stored in cylinders. These MSDS can be printed or saved to disk.

Safety Search Engine

The National Safety Council offers a new safety, health and environment search engine for the Internet. The site http://www.crossroads.nsc.org, features an integrated database. It provides information on injury statistics, hazardous chemical profiles, safety data sheets, topical articles and an expert Q&A.

ISO Certification Materials

http://ISOft14000.com is a new web site by T3, a Trinity Consultants company that provides software and resources to facilitate ISO 14000 certification.

Visitors can download a demo of the ISO 14000 software applications, or securely purchase products on the site.

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