tackling trouble areas Labeling Gets Sophisticated Do-it-yourself solutions for hazardous chemicals and other facility signage. By: Jack Rubinger Image courtesy of Graphic Products Inc. T Theresa Jones is at the forefront of indus-trial cleaners. She runs a U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-related class about the importance of safety in the work-place. Now, she’s launched a three-hour GHS/ HazCom 2012 class for small janitorial fran-chise owners. The goal? To educate them on the new program required by OSHA which affects every person in the U.S. who works with hazardous chemicals or waste. Major changes impact labeling chemi-cals and safety data sheets (SDS). The good news? Jones is getting a very positive reaction. If your facility is in compliance, then you probably went through this training a few months ago and will avoid the costly OSHA violation fines. Records must be kept of all employees’ training and must be provided upon re-quest. As of August 2013, many workers hadn’t even heard of the changes, according to private sector hazardous waste communi-cation consultants. Not being fully trained on HazCom 2012 at this point is an expensive oversight, with costs up of to $7,000 per violation, per per-son. If your facility is not in compliance, then you need to act fast. So Jones is taking a leadership position. Bill Balek, director of legislative affairs for ISSA, also offers a variety of training resources related to the GHS revisions to Safety in the workplace is paramount, and not knowing the changing standards could lead to hefty fines. OSHA HazCom 2012 Standard at www. ISSA.com/GHSTraining. Not every custodial professional, building service contractor and industrial cleaner is up to speed on GHS — otherwise they April 2014 would have responded to requests for ar-ticle interviews. Other Safety Hazards Custodial teams are very familiar with the 40 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ®
CMM – Archives April 2014: 40
