Occupational Safety & Health

Millions of workers are exposed on the job to some of the approximately 650,000 chemicals that--if mishandled--can cause serious illness and injury. Both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and GAO found a substantial number of employers out of compliance with the Health Communication Standard, which requires that employees receive information and training on chemical hazards in their workplaces. This was especially true for small employers--those with fewer than 20 employees. Many small employers know little or nothing about the standard--a situation that may result from their having less contact with OSHA, the primary source of information on the standard for large employers. OSHA's small-employer outreach strategy makes use of trade associations. Although small employers cited trade associations as being a primary source of information on the standard, many do not belong to these groups. Small employers said that better distribution of OSHA publications would increase small employer awareness of the standard. OSHA rarely reviews hazard evaluations done by chemical manufacturers and importers, although studies suggest that many material safety data sheets contain inaccurate information. Moreover, 55 percent of employers who received these sheets said that most are too technical for typical workers to understand.

GAO found that: (1) according to OSHA safety and health inspection data for fiscal years 1989 and 1990, one-fourth of all the worksites reviewed did not comply with HCS, and small worksites had the highest noncompliance rate; (2) a GAO survey of the construction, manufacturing, and personal services industries found that 58 percent of small employers and 52 percent of all employers did not comply with key HCS requirements; (3) although OSHA conducts outreach activities that include information about HCS, small employers may be unaware of HCS because they have little contact with OSHA; (4) 29 percent of small employers reviewed were unaware of HCS, compared to 2 percent of large employers; (5) 57 percent of small employers stated that better distribution of printed HCS information would increase small employer awareness of HCS; (6) 55 percent of all employers that received MSDS stated that most MSDS were too technical for workers and managers to understand; (7) OSHA reviews MSDS after the chemical manufacturer or importer distributes them to employees, instead of focusing on the MSDS point of origin, which is the manufacturer's or importer's hazard evaluation process; and (8) since OSHA rarely reviews chemical manufacturers' or importers' hazard evaluations, many MSDS include inaccurate or incomplete information.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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