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105 Hazard Communication: Basic
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105 Hazard Communication: Basic

Employer Responsibilities

Employers have many important required responsibilities under OSHA's hazard communications standard.

Image of office employee talking on the phone
SDSs may be kept at the primary workplace facility, as long as the employer can ensure quick access to this information.
  • If an SDS is not provided with a shipment labeled as a hazardous chemical, employers must get the SDS from the chemical manufacture or importer as soon as possible.
  • Employers must maintain SDSs in their workplace where they are readily accessible during each shift to employees in their work area(s).
  • Electronic access and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the SDS are permitted as long as no barriers to immediate employee access are created by such options. Ensure employees know how to quickly access SDS information that is stored on computers or online.
  • Where employees must travel between workplaces during a shift, i.e., their work is carried out at more than one geographical location, the SDSs may be kept at the primary workplace facility. In this situation, the employer must ensure that employees can immediately obtain the required information in an emergency.
  • Employees who work at more than one site during the work shift must be able to obtain SDS information immediately (within seconds) in an emergency.
  • SDSs may be kept at the primary workplace facility, as long as the employer has a representative available at all times to ensure ready access (within a few minutes) to this information. This is the only situation in which an employer is allowed to transmit hazard information via voice communication. The employer must address in the written hazard communication plan how SDS information will be conveyed to remote worksites.
  • SDSs may be kept in any form, including operating procedures, and may be designed to cover groups of hazardous chemicals in a work area where it may be more appropriate to address the hazards of a process rather than individual hazardous chemicals.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-6. Where must SDSs be maintained during each workshift?

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