Every year the Occupational Safety and Health Administration releases a list of the most noted safety and health violations in the US. At the annual National Safety Council Congress and Expo. In 2018, OSHA announced the top 10 most cited violations for the year 2017. For the 6th year running the Hazard Communication system (29 CFR 1910.1200) has placed 2nd on this list with a total of 14% of all violations attributed to this system.
There are a number of reasons for this, however one of the main ones cited is a continued confusion associated with the integration of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification with OSHA’S Hazard Communication Standard.
In total there were 4176 violations recorded with the Hazard Communication system in 2017. These violations ranged from failure to provide HazCom training for employees to the lack of implementation of a hazard communication program.
The following table outlines the violations noted by OSHA:
| Reference | Regulatory Requirement | Number of Violations |
| 1910.1200(e)(1) | Employers shall develop, implement, and maintain at each workplace, a written hazard communication program | 1520 |
| 1910.1200(h)(1) | Employers shall provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Information and training may be designed to cover categories of hazards (e.g. flammability, carcinogenicity) or specific chemicals. Chemical-specific information must also be available through labels and safety data sheets | 1230 |
| 1910.1200(g)(8) | The employer shall maintain in the workplace copies of the required safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift | 459 |
| 1910.1200(g)(1) | Chemical manufacturers and importers shall obtain or develop a safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical they produce of import. Employers shall have a safety data sheet in the workplace for each hazardous chemical which they use | 337 |
| 1910.122(h)(3)(iv) | The details of the hazard communication program developed by the employer, including an explanation of the labels received on shipping containers and the workplace labelling system used by their employer; the safety data sheet, including the order of information and how employees can obtain and use the appropriate hazard information | 190 |
The year on year comparison shows that the same issues are identified continuously.
Fines for violations can be significant for organizations and impact the good reputation of your company as well as posing risks to your most valuable asset, your employees.
EcoOnline can help to efficiently monitor aspects of the OSHA Regulations for your organization and your suppliers including storing all safety data sheets in a readily accessible place and producing fully compliant labels for use.
