Occupational Safety & Health: OSHA Action Needed to Improve Compliance With Hazard Communication Standard
HRD-92-8
Published: Nov 26, 1991. Publicly Released: Nov 26, 1991.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) employer compliance with the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), which requires employers to identify workplace chemical hazards and communicate that information to their employees; (2) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) efforts to inform small employers about HCS; and (3) the accuracy and clarity of required material safety data sheets (MSDS).
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | The Secretary of Labor should direct OSHA to revise HCS to specify that developers of MSDS include on each sheet a brief description of employer responsibilities under the standard. |
Closed – Not Implemented
OSHA established a work group under the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) to examine issues related to improving hazard communication. The recommendations in the NACOSH report do not include this GAO recommendation.
|
| Department of Labor | The Secretary of Labor should direct OSHA to revise HCS to address the inability of employers and employees to understand MSDS by clearly specifying the language and presentation of information to be used on them. |
Closed – Not Implemented
OSHA established a work group under the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) to examine issues related to improving hazard communication. The recommendations in the NACOSH report do not include this GAO recommendation.
|
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration | Should OSHA implement its plans to establish a toll-free hot line for HCS, OSHA should require that this number be included on MSDS. |
Closed – Not Implemented
OSHA established a work group under the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) to examine issues related to improving hazard communication. The recommendations in the NACOSH report do not include this GAO recommendation.
|
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration | To improve the accuracy of MSDS, OSHA should develop a more effective strategy for inspecting the hazard evaluation processes of manufacturers and importers. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to GAO's recommendation, OSHA's Salt Lake City laboratory initiated a program whereby it, by compliance officer request, would review any MSDSs of questionable reliability or accuracy to support the officers' enforcement of applicable standards. In past years, OSHA has referred to this as a pilot program because it believed that a more proactive, direct submission of MSDSs by manufacturers for review by OSHA would be necessary to fully respond to the GAO recommendation. However, funding required for such expansion has not been forthcoming, and OSHA officials now maintain that this service does not need to be expanded. OSHA officials said they believed the service provided by the Salt Lake laboratory responds to the intent of the GAO recommendation.
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Hazardous substancesHealth hazardsNoncomplianceOccupational health and safety programsPrivate sectorReporting requirementsSafety regulationSafety standardsWorking conditionsSmall business