hazardous chemicals checklists ebook volume 1

THE FIRST BOOK IN A THREE-PART SERIES EXPLAINING THE

REGULATIONS TRIGGERED WHEN yOUR ORGANIzATION AcqUIRES

AND USES cHEmIcALS. LEARN ABOUT DOzENS OF ENvIRONmENTAL,

HEALTH AND SAFETy (EH&S) PROvISIONS INTENDED TO ENSURE THAT

THOSE cHEmIcALS ARE mANAGED SAFELy.

By jON ELLIOTT BSE, mPP jD

COMPLYING WITH ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR ACTIVITIES INVOLVING

HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS 01

EHS Hazardous Chemical Checklists / eBook Volume 12

When your organization acquires and uses chemicals, it triggers dozens of environmental, health and safety (EH&S) provisions intended to ensure that those chemicals are managed safely. Since there is no unified chemical-handling law, the first and only place these compliance requirements come together is at regulated organizations – and in your hands, if you have EH&S compliance responsibilities.

Exactly which provisions apply to your activities depend on which chemicals, how much, and how you use them. This eBook is the first of three, which together identify the range of EH&S requirements covering chemical acquisition, chemical use, and post-use management of chemical wastes. They provide an organized approach to evaluating which EH&S requirements apply to your operations, and briefly summarize the types of compliance requirements your organization is likely to face. They provide convenient Self-Assessment checklists with each section, and outline a calendar for scheduling compliance activities.

Together, these three volumes present the following information:

• volume I:

- introductory summary of US federal laws and regulatory agencies

- Right to Know: Worker Protection and Right to Know provisions, and Emergency Planning and community Right to Know provisions

• volume II: Onsite Storage and management

- Fire and Building codes

- Hazardous materials Transportation

- Facility Security Requirements

- Underground Storage Tank System Requirements

• volume III: Waste and Emission management, and calendar

- Hazardous Waste management

- Air quality Protection

- Water quality Protection

- consolidated compliance calendar

jon F. Elliott, BSE, mPP, jD

california 2013

introduction


contentsIntroduction 3

Which Agencies and Laws Address Chemicals 4

Pre-screening Hazardous Materials Before Marketing 4

Safe Handling and Storage Requirements 5

Community Right-to-Know 5

Waste Management 5

Protecting Environmental Media 6

How do EH&S Laws Address Chemicals? 6

Self-Assessment Checklist 1 (Chemicals) 7

Worker Protection and Right To Know 8

General Duty Clause 8

Hazard Communication Standard 8

Additional Standards for Chemical Classes and 12

Specific Chemicals

Recording and Reporting Occupation Injuries 13

and Illness

Self-Assessment Checklist 2 (OSHA) 15

Emergency Planning and Community 16

Right-to-Know Act

Emergency Planning Involving Extremely Hazardous 16

Substances (EHSs)

Reporting EHS Releases 16

Reporting Hazardous Substances in the Workplace 17

Reporting Annual Toxic Chemical Releases 18

Self-Assessment Checklist 3 (Emergency Planning) 21

About the Author 22


A variety of federal, state and even regional or local laws apply EH&S requirements to chemicals. Each requirement is assigned to at least one agency to administer and enforce – most federal laws allow for delegation of some or all responsibilities to state agencies, and some state laws allow for delegation to local agencies. You may need to refer to agencies at all three levels (federal, state and regional/local) to identify your regulators and their requirements – although many organizations only deal with the agency responsible for permitting and inspecting day-to-day activities.

The following U.S. federal laws and agencies are discussed throughout these eBooks:

Pre-screening Hazardous materials Before marketing

Federal and state laws require chemical manufacturers and importers to submit information to agencies that pre-screen products to determine whether they can be sold in the U.S., and to establish clear and useful labeling. Unless your organization is a chemical manufacturer or importer, you are not regulated by such laws – instead, they serve you as “consumer protection” measures, by providing basic levels of chemical safety and information in products available for purchase and use. Because these eBooks focus on widely-applicable provisions, these sets of requirements are outside their scope, except to reference the source for requirements that do apply more broadly:

• Chemical safety

- Federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requiring manufacturers and importers to evaluate products containing chemicals (pure and mixtures) and provide labels and guidance for safe use (note that California is developing controversial “green chemistry” requirements to supplement TSCA)

- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), providing nationwide screening of new/modified chemical products, and enforcing compliance with labeling responsibilities, and prohibitions against imports or use of banned chemicals

WHIcH AGENcIES AND LAWS ADDRESS cHEmIcALS?


• Product labeling

- Federal Hazardous Substances Act, Consumer Product Safety Act, and specialized federal labeling laws, and state copycats

- Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), setting and enforcing national standards

• Pesticide registration and application

- Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and state pesticide laws

- EPA and state agencies

Safe Handling and Storage Requirements:

• Worker safety and right-to-know

- Federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act requiring employers to provide safe and healthful workplaces, to protect workers (employees and contractors)

- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and OSH agencies in “state plan states” delegated to perform OSHA functions

• Hazardous Materials Transportation

- Federal hazardous materials transportation law, Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) and related mode-specific transportation regulations

- US Department of Transportation (DOT) units, including Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) which issues HMR, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and other mode- specific DOT units, and state motor vehicle and law enforcement agencies

• Local Building and Fire Codes

- International Building Code (IBC), and state and local building codes

- International Fire Code (IFC), and state and local fire codes

- State building officials and fire marshals, and local building and fire protection and response agencies (no general US federal requirements)

• Underground Storage Tanks (UST) construction and use

- Federal UST law, state UST laws

- EPA, setting national standards and either enforcing them or overseeing delegated state agencies

• Facility Security requirements

- Safety plans required at facilities shipping specified quantities of hazardous materials; “chemical facilities” subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)

- PHMSA; Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

community Right-to-Know• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-

Know

- Emergency Planning and Community Right- to-Know Act (EPCRA; also known as “SARA Title III”)

- EPA, State Emergency Response Commissions, and Local Emergency Planning Committees

Waste management:• Non-hazardous waste management

- Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), state and local non-hazardous waste management laws

- EPA, state and local solid waste management agencies

• Hazardous waste management

- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and state hazardous waste management laws

- EPA and delegated (“authorized”) state agencies

• Medical waste management

- State medical waste management laws (no US federal law)

- State/local agencies


Protecting Environmental media:

• Air quality

- Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and state laws

- EPA, setting national standards and overseeing state and regional/local air quality agencies

• Water Quality

- Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and state laws

- EPA, setting national standards and either enforcing them or overseeing delegated state agencies, some of which further delegate to regional/local water quality agencies (including agencies with storm water management authority, and local sewer agencies operation publicly owned treatment works (POTWs))

• Drinking Water Quality

- Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

- EPA, setting national standards and either enforcing them or overseeing delegated state agencies

Each EH&S law is designed to provide protections against hazards, and many cover physical and biological hazards posed by some aspect of chemical handling. Because these laws are fragmented, you must consider which laws may apply to each stage of each activity that involves each chemical involved in your activities. These include:

• Chemical acquisition

- Worker protection requirements – obtaining Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) or Safety

Data Sheets (SDSs)

- Hazardous materials transportation requirements – getting materials to the workplace; container labeling and packaging requirements

• Chemical receiving/off-loading and onsite transport to inventory/storage

- Hazardous materials transportation requirements for offloading

- Worker safety requirements for loading docks, offloading and onsite movement of materials, including personal protective equipment (PPE)

• Chemical storage (in central inventory, or in smaller inventory locations at individual worksites at a facility)

- Building code standards for construction, signs, and quantity limits

- Fire code standards for construction, signs, and quantity limits

- Worker protection requirements for signs, access and egress

• Chemical movement from storage to use location

- Worker safety requirements for onsite handling of materials

• Chemical use

- Worker safety requirements triggered by potential chemical exposures, which may include general information and training requirements (e.g., Hazard Communication Standard, Laboratory Standard), general technical standards (e.g., ventilation, PPE), specific requirements for types of uses (e.g., dipping and coating, spray finishing), and/or specific requirements for specific chemicals (e.g., benzene)

- Building and fire code standards, for volumes and types of hazardous materials, and types of use

- Environmental controls, for air and water

- Waste capture requirements to facilitate waste management

• Management of chemicals in products

HOW DO EH&S LAWS ADDRESS cHEmIcALS?


- Labeling and packaging requirements

- Transportation requirements

• Management of wastes and emissions

- Non-hazardous, hazardous and medical waste management requirements, onsite and offsite

(as applicable)

- Air emission and wastewater discharge requirements to protect ambient air and water quality.

Chemicals

The first step toward compliance with chemical-based requirements is to develop a thorough inventory of chemicals in each workplace, and procedures to update that inventory as chemicals are purchased and used.

Has the organization identified all chemicals it uses, in each of its workplaces?

• If the organization manufactures or imports chemicals, has it prepared a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for each chemical?

• If the organization is an end-user of chemicals purchased from other organizations, has it obtained a MSDS/SDS for each chemical?

Has the organization identified where and how each chemical is used, the types of actual or potential exposures involved with each chemical, and each employee or contractor who is or may be exposed to the chemical? Y/N

Yes No

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST 1

The federal OSH Act and OSHA standards provide a wide variety of requirements for employers, some of which apply generally across many types of workplaces, while others are tailored to specific activities. Most requirements are triggered by the presence of any amount of a targeted chemical in the workplace, with additional requirements applicable if quantities of chemicals, airborne concentrations, and/or types of exposures exceed specified threshold limits.

General Duty clause

Employers owe a “general duty” to all their employees, to do the following:

• Furnish employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees; and

• Comply with all applicable standards, rules, and orders.

These points do not merely require compliance with specific standards already adopted and enforced by OSHA. The first point requires employers to identify and abate potential hazards that are not yet covered by OSHA or state standards. There are no mandatory national standards for doing so, although OSHA has promulgated voluntary Safety and Health Program Guidelines, and during 2013 is continuing to develop a mandatory Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) Standard. A number of states already impose such requirements; for example, California requires that each employer’s program (which California refers to as “IIPPs”) contain the following elements:

• Responsibility: identify the person(s) responsible for implementing the IIPP;

• Compliance: a system for ensuring that employees comply with safe and healthful work practices;

• Communication: a system for communicating occupational safety and health information in readily understandable forms to employees;

• Hazard Assessment: a system for identifying and evaluating workplace hazards, including periodic inspections;

• Accident/Exposure Investigation: procedures for investigating reported workplace injuries and illnesses;

• Hazard Correction: methods and procedures for timely correction of unsafe and unhealthful conditions and work practices;

• Training and Instruction: training for all new and reassigned employees in safe and healthful work practices; and

• Record keeping: retention of most IIPP-related compliance records for at least one year.

Chemical hazards and protections are important topics for these programs, along with physical hazards from electricity, moving equipment, falls, etc.

Hazard communication Standard

If you have employees who handle chemicals, you’re almost certainly subject to OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). HCS requires chemical manufacturers and importers, and employers using hazardous chemicals (end users), to inform employees of the risks of workplace exposures to their chemicals. OSHA revised and expanded these requirements last year, culminating six years of domestic rulemaking and catching up with twenty years of international work alongside other countries on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Employers could comply with these changes as early as their effective date of May 25, 2012, and must do so by a series of phase-in deadlines during 2013 through 2016. States with delegated programs are adopting conforming changes. OSHA’s revised requirements (and applicable compliance deadlines) are as follows:

WORKER PROTEcTION AND RIGHT TO KNOW



• Defining Hazardous chemicals and Substances

HCS requires employers to address “hazardous chemicals,” which present “health hazards” and/or “physical hazards.” As expanded in 2012, these definitions now cover:

• Health hazards are any of the following hazardous effects: acute toxicity (any route of exposure); skin corrosion or irritation; serious eye damage or eye irritation; respiratory or skin sensitization; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproductive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure); or aspiration hazard.

• Physical hazards are any of the following hazardous effects: explosive; flammable (gases, aerosols, liquids, or solids); oxidizer (liquid, solid or gas); self-reactive; pyrophoric (liquid or solid); self-heating; organic peroxide; corrosive to metal; gas under pressure; or in contact with water emits flammable gas.

However, exemptions apply to several categories of chemicals covered by other EH&S requirements (including a number addressed in these eBooks): articles; hazardous wastes (see below); tobacco or tobacco products; wood or wood products; food, drugs, or cosmetics in their final form for consumer use, and/or onsite intended for an employee’s personal use; consumer products packaged for the general public, provided that employee exposure to the product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure during normal use; hazardous substances subject to remedial or removal actions under Superfund; nuisance particulates that do not pose a physical or health hazard; ionizing and nonionizing radiation; and biological hazards.

HCS also defers to labeling requirements in several other labeling laws and regulations, including: pesticides regulated by FIFRA (see below), and agricultural or vegetable seeds treated with pesticides and labeled under the Federal Seed Act; “chemical substances” and “mixtures” as defined by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); food,

food additives, drugs, cosmetics, and medicinal or veterinary devices or products regulated under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act; alcoholic beverages subject to regulation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and consumer products or hazardous substances regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Act or Hazardous Substances Act.

• Hazard Determination

HCS requires employers to undertake a “hazard determination” to identify and characterize hazards posed by chemicals in their workplaces. Manufacturers and importers are subject to more exhaustive requirements than are end users. Manufacturers and importers of hazardous chemicals evaluate and classify them according to the hazard types identified above. A manufacturer or importer generally is not required to conduct testing if it can evaluate hazards without testing, for example by relying on information for individual constituents in a hazardous mixture (prepared for TSCA compliance and summarized in Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) and Safety Data Sheets (SDSs); see next bullet). They must consider as hazardous any substance that is: on OSHA’s air contaminant lists (see below); subject to a threshold limit value (TLV) established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH); or recognized nationally as a carcinogen. HCS provides criteria for determining whether a chemical is hazardous. For mixtures, employers must consider all constituents that meet either of the following descriptions:

• Make up 1% or more of the mixture or product; or are designated as carcinogenic by OSHA and make up at least 0.1% of the mixture or product; or

• Make up less than these proportions, but could be released in concentrations that would present a health hazard to workers (e.g., exceed permissible exposure limit (PEL), short-term exposure limit (STEL), or other workplace exposure limit.


End-use employers who use these chemicals are subject to similar requirements, but may rely on MSDSs/SDSs supplied by the manufacturer or importer, instead of performing their own evaluations. Most end-use employers do so.

• Summarizing information on material Safety Data Sheets and Safety Data Sheets

Since 1983, MSDSs have been the most basic source of hazardous chemical information. HCS has required chemical manufacturers and importers to develop or obtain an MSDS for each hazardous chemical. Extensive standards describe the type of information that should be presented, and less clear guidance about the scope and presentation of this information. OSHA does not mandate any particular format for MSDSs. MSDSs are to be superseded by SDSs, no later than June 1, 2015. Since both requirements are presently ‘live,’ here are summaries of each.

mSDS. OSHA requires each MSDS to provide at least the following information:

• Chemical identity, as used on the container label;

• Chemical and common name(s), for a pure chemical and for an entire mixture that has been tested as a whole to determine its hazards;

• For mixtures that have not been tested as a whole, the chemical or common name of each ingredient that meets any of the following tests:

- Poses a health hazard and appears in concentration of 1 percent or more;

- Is a carcinogen, and appears in concentration of 0.1 percent or more;

- Poses a health hazard, and could be released in a concentration that would exceed an OSHA PEL or a TLV adopted by ACGIH; or

- Poses a physical hazard in the mixture.

• Physical and chemical characteristics of the hazardous ingredients (e.g., flash point, vapor pressure), and any physical hazards (e.g., flammability, reactivity, and potential for explosion);

• Health hazards, including exposure symptoms and primary exposure route(s);

• Exposures limits (such as PELs, TLVs);

• Whether or not any hazardous ingredient is a carcinogen or potential carcinogen;

• Any applicable safe-handling and -use

precautions, control measures, and emergency and first aid procedures; and

• Name, address, and telephone number of the person who prepared the MSDS, and the date of its most recent version.

SDS. Effective May 25, 2012, HCS provides rules for chemical manufacturers to obtain or develop an SDS for each chemical they produce or import, and requires employers to have an SDS in the workplace for each chemical present. Each SDS must provide information in the following 16 numbered sections:

1. Identification;

2. Hazard(s) identification;

3. Composition/information on ingredients;

4. First-aid measures;

5. Fire-fighting measures;

6. Accidental release measures;

7. Handling and storage;

8. Exposure controls/personal protection;

9. Physical and chemical properties;

10. Stability and reactivity;

11. Toxicological information;

12. Ecological information;

13. Disposal considerations;

14. Transport information;

15. Regulatory information; and

16. Other information, including date of preparation or last revision.

The 2012 HCS revisions also adopt a new appendix D with specific information about each section.

• Labeling

Each chemical manufacturer or importer must ensure that each container of hazardous chemical is labeled, tagged, or marked. As of May 25, 2012, HCS requires the following information (although compliance with these new requirements can be delayed by distributors shipping containers until December 1,


2015, and by employers who use alternative workplace labeling schemes until June 1, 2016):

• Product identifier;

• Signal word;

• Hazard statement(s);

• Pictogram(s);

• Precautionary statement(s); and,

• Name, address, and telephone number of the chemical manufacturer, importer, or other responsible party.

The 2012 revisions amend specific requirements, and provide details in a new appendix C. The revised HCS also requires this include the hazard class in English (plus other language(s) as appropriate).

Limited exceptions are available. First, employers may use signs, placards, process sheets, batch tickets, operating procedures, or other similar materials for stationary process containers. Second, employers are not required to label portable containers into which an employee transfers a hazardous substance from a labeled container for immediate use during his or her shift. Third, as summarized above, other regulatory requirements supersede these for specified categories of chemicals, such as pesticides and hazardous waste.

Information and Training

Employers must provide information and training to all employees who will work with or be exposed to “effective” hazardous substances, when the employees receive their first work assignment, and again whenever a new chemical hazard is introduced into their workplace. Employees must be informed of:

• Requirements of HCS;

• Operations in their work area involving the presence of hazardous chemicals (including physical and health hazards, and (effective May 25, 2012) simple asphyxiation, combustible dust, pyrophoric gas, and “not otherwise classified” hazards);

• Location and availability of the employer’s written hazard communication program, including chemical lists and MSDSs/SDSs;

• Rights of employees, their physician and representative to receive information regarding hazardous substances to which employees may

be exposed; and

• Employee rights as designated in the federal OSH Act, which can be asserted without fear of retaliation or discharge.

Employee training must include at least the following:

• Methods to detect a release of hazardous substances into the work area;

• Physical and health hazards of substances in the work area;

• Measures employees could take to protect themselves from exposures, including appropriate work practices, emergency procedures, and use of PPE; and

• Explanations of the employer’s hazard communication program, including MSDSs/SDSs, workplace labeling, and methods of obtaining and using appropriate hazard information.

Employers may address classes of hazards (e.g., all flammables) rather than target each and every hazardous chemical in the workplace separately. However, a separate MSDS/SDS must be maintained for each chemical. Employers must begin to train employees regarding Safety Data Sheets and revised labeling requirements no later than December 1, 2013 – but keep in mind that SDSs began to reach end-users in May 2012, so training that excludes them may not actually tell employees about available hazard information.

Written hazard communication programs

Employers must develop, implement, and maintain at each workplace a written hazard communication program. These requirements are not affected by the 2012 amendments, except to replace MSDS with SDS. Programs must include elements addressing the following:

• Labels and other workplace warnings;

• MSDS/SDS availability;

• Employee information and training;

• List of hazardous chemicals in the workplace, referencing MSDSs/SDSs;

• Methods to inform employees about the hazards of nonroutine tasks; and

• Hazards associated with chemicals in unlabeled pipes.


OSHA’s inspection and citation policy requires that these programs designate persons responsible for each compliance task. In multi-employer workplaces, where employees of other employers (such as subcontractors) may be exposed, each employer responsible for hazardous chemicals must provide written procedures to inform and warn these other employers and their employees of the hazards present.

Additional Standards for chemicals classes and Specific chemicals

For many of the tens of thousands of chemical products used in American workplaces, HCS – plus the Employer’s General Duty Clause – may provide the employer’s only specific responsibilities. Because HCS applies to virtually all chemicals, it takes a “one size fits all” approach to chemical information and training, leaving employers to tailor their individual programs to suit their circumstances … or not.

In the four decades since enactment of the OSH Act, however, OSHA has issued:

• General standards for types of exposures, including workplace air contaminants, carcinogens, and flammable liquids; and

• Specific standards for a handful of specific chemicals

Air contaminants

OSHA’s Air Contaminants Standard regulates chemicals that have the potential to contaminate ambient air in workplaces. This standard is designed to protect employees from both immediate and long-term consequences of exposures to airborne chemicals and particulate contaminants in workplace air. OSHA identifies hundreds of air contaminants in several “Z lists.” These include volatile industrial solvents like benzene, ethyl alcohol, and chloroform; toxic metal dusts; fumes of lead, chromium, mercury, and others; as well as “nuisance dusts” and other particulates like silica. Because of the breadth of the lists nearly most workplaces contain at least one of the contaminants.

Employers must prevent employee exposures to air contaminants at levels that would exceed applicable standards. OSHA uses several methods to determine acceptable concentration levels, including:

• PEL: the maximum eight-hour weighted average of the airborne concentration of the contaminant;

• STEL: the maximum 15-minute weighted average

of the airborne concentration of the contaminant at any time during a workday; and

• Ceiling limit: total airborne concentration that must never be exceeded.

If an employer determines through workplace air monitoring that employees’ exposures would exceed the limits, the employer must reduce employee exposures below the limits, using the following means, in the following order or preference:

• Administrative controls, which include practices such as work scheduling and procedures;

• Engineering controls, which include ventilation, equipment design, and facility management; and

• PPE for workers.

carcinogens

OSHA also regulates the use of 28 specified carcinogens in workplaces. These requirements cover workplaces where any regulated carcinogen is manufactured, processed, repackaged, released, handled, or stored.

OSHA imposes identical requirements on 13 regulated carcinogens listed in its Carcinogen Standard: 4-Nitrobiphenyl, alpha-Napthylamine, Methyl chloromethyl ether, 3,3 -Dichlorobenzidine (and its salts), bis-Chloromethyl ether; beta-Napthylamine, benzidine, 4-Aminodiphenyl, ethyleneimine, beta-Propiolactone, 2-Acetylaminofluorene, 4-Dimethylaminoazobenzene, and N-Nitrosodimethylamine. Additional carcinogens are regulated separately. Mixtures with small enough concentrations of these regulated carcinogens are exempt

Employers with any regulated carcinogens in their workplaces must do at least the following:

• Establish formal regulated areas where carcinogens are used;

• Establish and implement protective measures covering handling and use of carcinogens;

• Provide signs and information;

• Protect regulated areas;

• Establish emergency procedures for regulated areas;


• Provide training and indoctrination to employees who enter regulated areas; and

• Provide medical surveillance to monitor possible health effects on employees who work with carcinogens (including initial medical examination and periodic examinations at least annually thereafter).

These elements should be addressed in a written compliance program covering the use of each carcinogen. OSHA revised hazard communication provisions of these standards to conform to its 2012 HCS revisions, discussed above.

Additional chemicals, by class of Hazards

A number of OSHA Standards target all the chemicals and substances within a particular class of hazards. Most such standards include general requirements applicable to that class of hazard, including design specifications for storage and/or use equipment, handling requirements, and housekeeping. These class-based standards include the following:

• Flammable liquids (i.e., flash point below 199.4 oF (93 oC))

• Explosives and blasting agents

• Liquid petroleum gases

• Hazardous compressed gases (e.g., hydrogen, acetylene)

• Bloodborne pathogens

Other Specific chemicals

Additional standards cover specific chemicals, including anhydrous ammonia, asbestos, vinyl chloride, inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, benzene, coke oven emissions, cotton dust, 1,2-dibromo-s-chloropropane, acrylonitrile, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, hexavalent chromium, methlenedianiline, 1,3-butadiene, and methylene chloride. If any of these are present in a workplace where employees might be exposed, the employer must establish evaluation, monitoring, control, and medical surveillance programs similar to those described above for carcinogens. OSHA revised hazard communication provisions in these standards to conform to its 2012 HCS revisions.

Additional Standards for Specific chemical-Using Activities

Additional OSHA Standards target classes of activities that involve extensive handling of particular chemicals or classes of chemicals. The standards typically include:

• Design and construction standards for equipment and devices

• Engineering requirements for workplaces (e.g., ventilation)

• Administrative controls, including self-inspections, work practices, and housekeeping

• Practices for the chemical-using activities

• Training and other information (e.g., labels)

Standards applicable to categories of chemical-using activities include:

• Welding

• Dipping and coating operations

• Spray finishing using flammable and combustible materials

• Laboratory safety

• (Chemical) process safety management (PSM)

• Hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER)

Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

OSHA requires employers to prepare and maintain records of occupational injuries and illnesses (I&Is), and to make selected information available to employees and/or agencies. Most employers must maintain a Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Log and Summary), using OSHA Form 300 or an equivalent for the Log, and OSHA Form 300A for the Summary. Recordable occupational injuries and illnesses include:

• Fatalities, regardless of the time between the injury or illness and death

• Cases that involve any lost workdays


• Nonfatal cases without lost workdays, but result in transfer to another job or termination of employment, or require medical attention beyond first aid, or involve loss of consciousness or post-incident restriction of work or motion, or involve occupational illnesses reported to the employer.

In addition to this routine recording, employers must report serious incidents within eight hours. OSHA requires all employers to report by telephone within eight hours after any work-related “catastrophe” that results in one or more deaths, or the hospitalization of three or more employees.

Employers must complete the Log and Summary with the previous year’s statistics and post it annually, by February 1, at each facility in a place where notices to employees are customarily posted. (Employers with no fixed place of business are subject to special record-keeping provisions.) The Log and Summary must remain posted for at least three months (i.e., throughout February – April).

compliance Deadlines

OSHA standards have ongoing compliance requirements, and some require periodic activities (such as annual refresher training), but they generally do not include specific deadlines.

Event-specific deadlines:

• Train each employee about chemical hazards, at time of first assignment to work with chemicals, and again whenever a new chemical hazard is introduced (HCS, Carcinogen Standard, some chemical-specific standards)

• Conduct initial workplace monitoring to determine whether exposures to specified chemicals are within regulatory limits

• Record occupational injury or illness (I&I) within 7 days after learning of event

• Report “catastrophe” (occupational death or at least 3 hospitalizations) with 8 hours after learning of event

• Post OSHA notice of violation immediately, until violation is abated (at least 3 days)

Periodic deadlines:

• February 1 to April 30 - post annual I&I summary for previous year

• Periodic monitoring for specified chemicals present above applicable action levels (every 3 or 6 months depending on the chemical, and whether PEL is exceeded)

• Inform exposed employees of workplace monitoring results within 15 days (Laboratory Standard, specific chemical standards)

• Annual medical examination for employee who works in a carcinogen “regulated area,” with specified materials (e.g., asbestos, lead), or on emergency response or cleanup covered by HAZWOPER

• Monthly/bimonthly/annual blood tests for employees exposed to lead, depending on blood lead levels, and workplace removals of employees with elevated levels

• Refresher training:

- Frequency unspecified under Laboratory Safety Standard

- Annual for employees who work in carcinogen regulated areas, with certain specified chemicals where action level is exceeded (e.g., lead), with bloodborne pathogens, and for HAZWOPER

- Every 3 years under PSM

• Annual review of written compliance program for specified chemicals

Ongoing deadlines:

• Retain employee training records – vary, e.g., one year after duration of employment for Asbestos Standard

• Retain employee exposure and medical records – for duration of employment plus 30 years

OSHASELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST 2


• HastheorganizationdeterminedwhichStandards(OSHAordelegatedstateplanstate)applytoitsoperationsthatinvolvethepresenceand/oruseofchemicals?

- Doestheorganizationhaveproceduresforongoingevaluationtoupdate thisdetermination?

• HastheorganizationdeterminedwhetheritsemployeesareexposedtoadditionalchemicalhazardsthatarenotcoveredbyexistingStandards,butwhichshouldstillbeaddressed(i.e.,undertheEmployer’sGeneralDutyClause)?

• Hastheorganizationestablishedunifiedcomplianceprogram(s),includingtraining,monitoringandrecordkeeping,sufficienttoprovideassuranceofemployeesafetyandhealth,andcompliancewithapplicablerequirementsbasedonchemicalhazards?

• HastheorganizationidentifiedcompliancedeadlinesassociatedwithOSHAcompliance,forincorporationintoacompliancecalendar?

- Periodicdeadlines:

- Ongoingdeadlines:

Yes No


The primary national hazardous material management and information law is called the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA). EPCRA consists of several separate provisions, each of which requires regulated entities to collect and report information to emergency planning and response agencies, which make information available to the public. These provisions had initially been proposed separately, but were compiled together into Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) in order to attract enough votes to pass Congress. Because of this history, EPCRA sometimes is referred to as “SARA Title III.”

EPCRA is administered nationally by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and some provisions are also overseen by individual state and local planning and response agencies.

Emergency planning involving extremely hazardous substances (EHSs)

• Defining EHS and establish Threshold Planning quantities

The first set of EPCRA requirements (SARA sections 301–303) applies to a list of toxic and flammable materials defined by EPA. Listed chemicals are referred to as extremely hazardous substances (EHSs). EPA defines threshold planning quantities (TPqs) for each EHS, used in the planning processes described below. TPQs range from 1 pound to 10,000 pounds, based on EPA’s assessment of the quantities necessary to create offsite hazards, considering such factors as toxicity and volatility. TPQs cover solids, liquids and gases, and some vary with the EHS’ physical state. Facilities must evaluate mixtures that contain any EHS as a constituent, and calculate whether the amount of EHS in a mixture exceeds its TPQ. Generally, these calculations are required if the mixture contains more than 1 percent for most EHS, and 0.1 percent for carcinogens (different adjustments apply to solids, depending on whether they are powders, molten, or in solution).

Reporting to emergency planning agencies

Each facility must consider the maximum amount of any EHS onsite, and report each EHS that meets or exceeds its TPQ to the local emergency planning committee (LEPc; within each local emergency planning district (LEPD)) with jurisdiction over the facility. LEPDs are defined by the state emergency response commission (SERc). In most states, the general-purpose state emergency response organization provides staffing; some “commissions” actually consist of the state emergency response organization. EPCRA mandated the creation of SERCs and LEPCs/LEPDs; most LEPDs cover an individual county or city.

Each facility with any EHS present at or above the applicable TPQ must do the following:

• Notify the SERC and LEPC within 60 days after meeting the threshold

• Provide a facility contact for information on these matters

• Provide updated notification within 30 days after any change to reportable EHS or the contact

For this portion of EPCRA, regulated facilities’ responsibilities are limited to these notifications. State and local planning agencies prepare detailed emergency response plans covering potential EHS releases in their jurisdictions, consistent with standards in EPA’s regulations.

Reporting EHS releases

The second set of EPCRA requirements (SARA section 304) covers unauthorized discharges (leaks or spills) of any EHS. This section adds reporting of released EHS into the national emergency reporting framework for oil (under the Clean Water Act) and hazardous substances (under the federal Superfund laws.

EmERGENcy PLANNING AND cOmmUNITy RIGHT-TO-KNOW AcT


RQs for EHS vary from 1 pound up to the same quantity as the TPQ. This requirement is not limited to facilities subject to reporting and planning requirements described immediately above (i.e., those with at least a TPq amount), but must be considered by any facility where an Rq amount is present that could potentially be released.

Initial reports must be made by telephone or the Internet to the National Response Center, the appropriate state agency (most states have spill reporting numbers), and appropriate local agencies. Subsequent written follow-up reporting is also required, within 30 days. Exemptions cover releases that only affect people onsite at the facility, are authorized by a federal permit or regulation (e.g., Clean Water Act), are “continuous releases,” are releases of less than 1,000 pounds in 24 hours of nitrogen oxide or nitrogen dioxide from combustion or combustion-related activities, or are releases from animal wastes.

Reporting hazardous substances in the workplace

The third set of EPCRA requirements (SARA sections 311 – 312) applies to all facility owners or operators required by the federal OSH Act to prepare or have available material safety data sheets (MSDSs) – note that EPCRA regulations do not yet reflect OSHA’s transition to SDSs discussed above. Owners or operators of facilities subject to these requirements must report MSDS information for chemicals present at their facilities in quantities equal to or greater than established thresholds, and must also submit annual inventories of hazardous chemicals present at their facilities at or in excess of established thresholds.

EPA sets the same reporting thresholds for Section 311 and 312. Owners or operators of subject facilities must submit MSDS reports and annual chemical inventories for all hazardous chemicals present onsite at any time during the previous calendar year in quantities equal to or greater than the following:

• For hazardous chemicals—10,000 pounds (except fuels stored in underground storage tanks (USTs; see below) at retail gas stations is 75,000 gallons for gasoline and 100,000 gallons for diesel fuel); and

• For EHS—the lesser of 500 pounds or the chemical’s TPQ.

EPA allows facilities to group these chemicals into 5 hazard categories for EPCRA reporting purposes: immediate or acute health hazard, delayed or chronic health hazard, fire hazard, sudden release of pressure hazard, and reactivity hazard. Section 311 requires a one-time report of chemicals with MSDSs (either the MSDSs

themselves or a list of chemicals), while Section 312 requires annual reports. At present, all states require so-called “Tier II reporting,” using EPA’s national format (EPA prefers online reporting using its “Tier2 Submit” software) or a state format that requires at least equivalent information. Tier Two forms include the following information:

• Chemical or common name of each hazardous chemical (as listed on the MSDS) and the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number;

• Estimated maximum amount, in weight ranges, of each chemical at the facility during the preceding year;

• Estimated average daily amount, in weight ranges, of each chemical;

• Description of the manner of storage of each hazardous chemical (e.g., the type of container, whether it is under pressure, and its temperature);

• Location of each chemical; and

• Indication whether any information is to be withheld from the public as a trade secret.

The following are exempt from reporting:

• Any food, food additive, color additive, drug, or cosmetic regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA);

• Any hazardous chemical in solid form in a manufactured product that under normal conditions does not expose the user of the product to that chemical;

• Any hazardous chemical used for personal, family, or household purposes, or packaged in the same form as a product distributed to and used by the general public (packaging, not use, triggers this exemption);

• Any hazardous chemical used in a research lab, hospital, or other medical facility under direct supervision of a technically qualified individual; and

• Any hazardous chemical used in normal agricultural operations, and any fertilizer sold by a retailer to the ultimate customer.


Inventory reports are generally due by march 1 of each year, although some state and local agencies have different deadlines. Businesses should verify the applicable deadline with the SERC, LEPC, or local fire department. Note that revised Tier I and II reporting requirements will be effective January 1, 2014; they revise required chemical storage and facility emergency contact information, and require disclosure whether the facility is also subject to Section 302 and/or federal Accidental Release Prevention requirements. EPA provides “Tier2 Submit” software to use for electronic reporting.

Reporting Annual Toxic chemical Releases

As the fourth set of EPCRA requirements, Section 313 requires selected facilities to file toxic chemical release inventory reports with EPA and their state, on one of two forms (Form R or Form A). EPA refers to this as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. Reports estimating releases of listed toxic chemicals are due each July 1st covering the preceding calendar year. EPA has developed “TRI-Made Easy” (“TRI-ME”) software, which can be downloaded from EPA’s website and used to perform calculations and manage data, and to make electronic filings.

• Determining applicability

Applicability of TRI reporting depends on each facility’s industry sector, number of employees, and total annual use of listed chemicals (not on maximum quantity present).

Number of employees. Section 313 only applies to facilities with 10 or more full-time employees, or equivalent part-time employees. Any facility where employees work a total of 20,000 hours in a year meets this test.

Business sector. Section 313 only applies to facilities in the following specified business sectors, which represent those that consistently have the largest quantities of TRI-listed chemicals:

• Any facility in standard industrial classification (SIC) Codes 20 – 39 or equivalent North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sector;

• Any federal facility;

• Any facility in the following additional industry sectors:

– Metal Mining (except iron ores, metal mining services, and uranium-radium- vanadium ores);

– Coal Mining (except coal mining services);

– Electric Utilities (coal- and oil-fired generating plants, electric services, electric and other services combined);

- Commercial Hazardous Waste Treatment (facilities subject to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permits; discussed in Volume III of these eBooks);

- Chemical and Allied Products, Wholesale;

- Petroleum Bulk Terminals and Plants; and


- Solvent Recovery Systems (limited to those engaged in solvent recovery on a contract or fee basis).

Toxic Chemicals handled. EPA’s TRI list contains over 600 chemicals and chemical “families.” EPA has also promulgated a second list identifying persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals of special concern, which are subject to much lower threshold reporting quantities and are ineligible for certain exemptions. Filing thresholds are the following:

• Form R (see below) for each TRI chemical use exceeding either of the following:

- 25,000 lb of chemicals manufactured or processed at a facility during a calendar year;

- 10,000 lb of chemicals otherwise used at a facility during a calendar year.

• Form R for each PBT chemical with annual usage exceeding specified quantities (from 0.1 grams to 100 pounds)

• Form A (see below) instead of Form R if both of the following apply:

- no more than 1,000,000 pounds in the year; and

- no more than 500 pounds are actually released to the environment (including through onsite or offsite disposal).

Facilities are not required to calculate or report quantities of toxic or PBT chemicals that meet any of the following descriptions:

• Exist in concentrations less than 1% of a mixture or less than 0.1% of a mixture when the chemical is an OSHA-defined carcinogen listed by the National Toxicology Program, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), or OSHA;

• Are structural components of the facility;

• Are in food, drugs, cosmetics, or other items for personal use;

• Are used in motor vehicle maintenance;

• Exist as solids in manufactured items and do not release toxic chemicals under normal conditions of use;

• Are used in process water and noncontact cooling water drawn from the environment or municipal sources;

• Are in intake air used either as compressed air or as part of combustion; and

• Are used in a research lab, hospital, or other medical facility under direct supervision of a technically qualified individual.

• Reports using Form R

Form R is a multi-page document that requires the


following information:

• Facility’s name, location, and principal business;

• Certification by the owner, operator, or “senior management official” of the truth and completeness of information and the reasonableness of assumptions;

• For each listed toxic chemical (unless claiming identity is a trade secret):

- Whether the chemical is manufactured, processed, or otherwise used;

- Chemical’s CAS number, name, or category;

- Estimate of the maximum amount (in weight ranges) of the chemical onsite at any time during the preceding calendar year;

- Estimate of the total amount of the chemical released onsite during the year, including both accidental releases and routine emissions;

- Transfers of the chemical in wastes to offsite locations;

- Onsite waste treatment methods and their efficiency;

- Onsite energy recovery processes;

- Onsite recycling processes; and

- Source reduction activities.

A separate Form R is filed for each TRI chemical (including PBTs) that meets the applicable reporting threshold.

• Reports using Form A

Form A is a shorter multi-page document that requires the following information:

- Trade secret information;

- Certification by the owner/operator or senior management official;

- Facility identification (ID) under applicable environmental statutes;

- Parent company information; and

- Chemical identification information (CAS number, toxic chemical or chemical category name).

A separate Form A is also required for each chemical reported using this alternative.

• Additional state reporting requirements

Forms R and A are filed with EPA’s Headquarters. States can require facilities to send them copies, and a few also require reporting of additional information. Facilities should verify whether any of these additional requirements apply (e.g., Massachusetts).

compliance calendar

Event-specific deadlines:

• Notify SERC/LEPC when facility first meets EHS reporting threshold (TPQ) – within 60 days

• Notify SERC/LEPC of significant change in EHS handling – within 30 days

• Provide list of MSDS chemicals to SERC, LEPC and fire department – within 3 months after starting operations, or add new chemical or learn “significant new information” about existing chemical

• Report release of any EHS meeting RQ threshold – within 24 hours

Periodic deadlines:

• 3/01 Annual Tier I/II submission.

• 7/01 Annual toxic chemical release inventory reports (Form R or Form A).

Ongoing deadlines:

• Develop and maintain records to support reporting

Yes No


Has the organization reviewed each facility’s chemical inventory, to determine whether any is subject to EPCRA compliance requirements trigger by the following:

• Presence of chemicals requiring a material safety data sheet (MSDS) [or SDS]

- In any quantity

- In a maximum quantity of 10,000 pounds or more

• Presence of extremely hazardous substance(s)

- At or exceeding TPQ

- At or exceeding RQ

• Presence of “toxic chemicals” regulated by Section 313 (TRI) program

- Listed toxic chemicals

- PBT chemicals of special concern

Does the organization track quantities of TRI and PBT chemicals manufactured, processed and/or otherwise used at each facility?

Has the organization determined whether it is subject to any of the following compliance requirements:

- EHS notifications (sections 302 – 304)

- EHS unauthorized releases (section 304)

- Submission of MSDS inventory list to SERC, LEPC and fire department (section 311)

- Submission of annual Tier II inventory to SERC, LEPC and fire department (section 312)

- Submission of annual Form R and/or Form A to EPA

Has the organization verified its compliance with each applicable requirement?

Has the organization identified compliance deadlines associated with EPCRA, for incorporation into a compliance calendar?

- Periodic deadlines:

- Ongoing deadlines:

Emergency Planning and community Right to Know

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST 3


AbouT THE AuTHor

jon F. Elliott BSE, MPP, JD

Jon Elliott has made a major contribution to the Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) product range for over 25 years. His impressive list of publications includes:

CAL/OSHA: Compliance and Auditing

ChemCheck Handbook

Complete Guide to Environmental Law

Complete Guide to Hazardous Materials Enforcement and Liability: California

Environmental Compliance: A Simplified National Guide

Environmental Compliance in California: The Simplified Guide

Federal Toxics Program Commentary

Hazardous Materials Program Commentary: California

OSHA Compliance: A Simplified National Guide

U.S. Federal Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Audit Protocol

Greenhouse Gas Auditing of Supply Chains

He has also produced the following publications relating to corporate governance and activities:

Securities Law: A Guide to the 1933 and 1934 Acts

Directors’ and Officers’ Liability

Workplace Violence Prevention: A Practical Guide

He continues to write quarterly updates for these, and many other, important publications.

Mr. Elliott has a diverse educational background. In addition to his Juris Doctor (University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law–1981), he holds a Master of Public Policy (Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley–1980) and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Princeton University–1977).

Mr. Elliott’s professional experience includes:

Practicing attorney in California.

Compliance consultant and legal advisor (since 1985), specializing in projects that address multiple legal frameworks simultaneously.

Instructor in University of California Extension Professional Certificate Programs.

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