 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Originally published in Directions Magazine; April/May 1997
by Paul E.R. Packbier
Life used to be simple in simpler times. You were born in a family and brought up to basically take over you parents’ line of work. Maybe your family’s niche in the local community was as fishermen, or farmers, or maybe even as stone-shapers. You would learn everything you needed to know from your elders and perfected the trade that your lineage was known for. But something changed. Inventions on a technical and scientific level propelled humankind into the frenzy of innovations and progress that has occurred over the past, lets say 100 years.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Henry Ford was one of the first pioneers that figured out that certain complex tasks could be better and faster performed if broken down into smaller pieces. He designed a manufacturing plant where workers would only be responsiblefor an extremely small part of the total process. Standing alongside a conveyor belt, even the most incompetent worker could be taught to fit a peg in each hole that was drilled by a co-worker two feet away into a piece of sheet metal that was formed by yet another worker up the line. Down the line, every action eventually led up to a complete automobile. All of a sudden, here was another way to make a living and support a family without competing within the family for work. In droves, people flocked to factories that provided work and pay.
WORKING CONDITIONS EXAMINED
The first industrialists did not consider adverse working conditions for their employees. Actually, most of them probably thought that they were performing a service by providing a source of income for their workers. The workplace did not take into consideration the health of the employees or their well being. After all, there was a ready supply of laborers willing to put up with conditions that might have been less than desirable, just in order to be able to make ends meet. As still is the case in some countries around the world, human health impacts were determined by the amount of workers actually getting sick or dying from exposure to some type of condition or material. It was not until 1970 when the Federal government enacted a law that dealt with workplace hazards and the effect of exposure to hazardous chemicals. Prior to this, labor groups (unions) and some States dealt with the issues of worker safety. However, increased public concern led to the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act at this time.
OCCUPATIONAL PROTECTION
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created as part of the Department of Labor to administer the Act. Some of the provisions of this Act include:
Of course, as concerned and informed citizens of the nineties we can all identify with the need for the above provisions. For the average business owner, however, the above can create huge liabilities if not adhered to and an incredible expense to comply with.
WORKER RIGHT-TO-KNOW
As an employer one has to communicate any hazards associated with a particular job. Failure to do so will not only open you up for potential litigation, but means that you are breaking federal law. Federal Right-to-Know regulations (also know as the Hazard Communication Standard) requires that all workers must be informed and trained for, what is called, worker identification evaluation. The objective of this law is to communicate to the worker the presence and the effects of any hazardous chemicals in the workplace under which they can be exposed during normal, or emergency, working conditions. To accomplish this, an employer has to prepare a hazardous chemicals list classifying chemicals in either physical or health hazards. Physical hazards generally include combustibility, flammability, compressibility (of gases), explosivity, stability, or reactivity. Health hazards include acute and chronic effects on the body that may result in cancer, birth defects, or toxic effects. The lists must not only include chemicals that have been identified on material safety data sheets provide by the manufacturers or distributors of certain products, but also chemicals created during business operations. For instance, in-house reaction products such as fumes from welding operations, and carbon monoxide from forklift trucks and other vehicles are considered hazardous and should be included.
NOT IN MY OFFICE?
Reading this column, you might think that there is nothing in your workplace that would trigger the requirements of the Federal Right-to-Know regulations. Think again. Hazardous materials are very common in today’s society and the workplace. In our office we keep a thick, three-ring binder full of material safety data sheets of common products that we use everyday. Next time you hit that "start" button on the Xerox machine consider the interactions of styrene-acrylate copolymer, magnetite, polyolefins and amorphous silica in producing that perfect image.
