Page 44 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2017

GHS/SDS TRAINING
OSHA recently expressed its intent to align with GHS Revision 7. As regulatory requirements continue to change, it remains the employer’s responsibility to modify training programs to evolve with them.
HazCom and GHS training as an ongo- ing obligation. Look into EHS software options for help managing, deploying, and tracking OSHA-required training. A good product eases the demands for ad- ministering numerous safety courses to individual employees or having to pause operations to host live trainings involv- ing groups of employees. It makes it pos- sible to deploy courses to whomever and at whatever frequency makes the most sense to your business. These solutions not only help you track your training needs and streamline communication to em- ployees about completion deadlines, but also should provide a wide variety of on- demand safety training options that offer various courses, with many in multiple languages, to help you meet your unique compliance requirements.
No matter your approach to training, it’s critical that you stay up to date. OSHA al- ready has indicated its intent to review and most likely align with newer revisions of GHS as they are introduced by the United Nations. Most recently, OSHA expressed its intent to align with GHS Revision 7. As reg- ulatory requirements continue to change, it remains the employer’s responsibility to modify training programs to evolve with them. Companies should look at GHS as an opportunity to update and solidify their own training obligations and to ensure con- sistent HazCom information is being pro- vided to them from manufacturers.
Companies following the four steps outlined above will be better positioned to address any changes to regulations, work- place conditions, or personnel. It’s a rela- tively easy way for employers to mitigate risk and safeguard employees.
Melissa McCaffrey is an EHS content edi- tor and director at VelocityEHS, a leading cloud EHS software company dedicated to helping its customers reach their EHS and sustainability goals faster through a simple and intuitive platform that is more afford- able and faster to implement. The company’s MSDSonline chemical management solu- tions help companies better understand their chemical risks, simplify compliance require- ments, and safeguard employees. For more information, visit www.EHS.com or call 866-919-7922.
HazCom information. Other instances when training must occur include any time a new employee is hired, including tempo- rary workers and visiting contract workers (to adequately understand the hazards as- sociated with the chemicals with which he/ she will interact) and when a new chemical
has been introduced to the facility or when the employer becomes aware of newly identified hazards of an existing hazardous chemical. This helps ensure that employ- ees who might come into contact with that substance understand its potential hazards.
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