Hazard Communications Program

Policy Statement

To ensure that information about the dangers of all hazardous chemicals used by Adelphi University is known by all affected employees, the following Hazard Communication Policy has been established. Under this policy, you will be informed of the contents of the OSHA Hazard Communications standard by going to the Hazard Communication Program. The program will guide employees affected by this policy of the hazardous properties of chemicals with which they work, safe handling procedures and measures to take to protect yourself from these chemicals.

Reason for Policy

The requirement for this policy is a requirement of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). (CFR1910. 1200 This program applies to all work operations where you may be exposed to hazardous chemicals under normal working conditions or during an emergency situation.

Who Is Governed by this Policy

Faculty and Staff

Policy

All departments using chemicals will participate in the Hazard Communication Program. Copies of the Hazard Communication Program are available in all departments which use chemicals and on the Adelphi University intranet for review by any interested employee. The Coordinator of Environmental Health and Safety is the program coordinator, with overall responsibility for the program, including reviewing and updating this plan as necessary.

Deans, Directors and Department heads designate and empower supervisors who are responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Hazard Communication Program with in their work areas. They also ensure an environment where all employees are encouraged to follow this program.

Definitions

Chemical: any substance, or mixture of substances.

Chemical Manufacturer: an employer with a workplace where chemical(s) are produced for use or distribution.

Chemical Name: the scientific designation of a chemical in accordance with the nomenclature system developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) or the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) rules of nomenclature, or a name that will clearly identify the chemical for the purpose of conducting a hazard classification.

Classification: to identify the relevant data regarding the hazards of a chemical; review those data to ascertain the hazards associated with the chemical; and decide whether the chemical will be classified as hazardous according to the definition of hazardous chemical. In addition, classification for health and physical hazards includes the determination of the degree of hazard, where appropriate, by comparing the data with the criteria for health and physical hazards.

Common Name: any designation or identification such as a code name, code number, trade name, brand name or generic name used to identify a chemical other than by its chemical name.

Container: any bag, barrel, bottle, box, can, cylinder, drum, reaction vessel, storage tank, or the like that contains a hazardous chemical. For purposes of this program, pipes or piping systems, and engines, fuel tanks, or other operating systems in a vehicle, are not considered containers.

Distributor: a business, other than a chemical manufacturer or importer, which supplies hazardous chemicals to other distributors or to employers.

Employee: a worker who may be exposed to hazardous chemicals under normal operating conditions or in foreseeable emergencies. Workers such as office workers who encounter hazardous chemicals only in non-routine, isolated instances are not covered.

Employer: a person engaged in a business where chemicals are either used, distributed, or are produced for use or distribution, including a contractor or subcontractor.

Exposure or Exposed: an employee is subjected in the course of employment to a chemical that is a physical or health hazard, and includes potential (e.g. accidental or possible) exposure. “Subjected” in terms of health hazards includes any route of entry (e.g., inhalation, ingestion, skin contact or absorption.)

Foreseeable Emergency: any potential occurrence such as, but not limited to, equipment failure, rupture of containers, or failure of control equipment which could result in an uncontrolled release of a hazardous chemical into the workplace.

Hazard Not Otherwise Classified (HNOC): an adverse physical or health effect identified through evaluation of scientific evidence during the classification process that does not meet the specified criteria for the physical and health hazard classes addressed in this section. This does not extend coverage to adverse physical and health effects for which there is a hazard class addressed in this section, but the effect falls below the cut-off value/concentration limit of the hazard class or is under a GHS hazard category that has not been adopted by OSHA (e.g., acute toxicity Category 5).

Hazardous Chemical: any chemical which is classified as a physical hazard or a health hazard, a simple asphyxiant, combustible dust, pyrophoric gas, or hazard not otherwise classified.

Health Hazard: a chemical which is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: acute toxicity (any route of exposure); skin corrosion or irritation; serious eye damage or eye irritation; respiratory or skin sensitization; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproductive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure); or aspiration hazard.

Immediate Use: the hazardous chemical will be under the control of and used only by the person who transfers it from a labeled container and only within the work shift in which it is transferred.

Importer: the first business with employees within the Customs Territory of the United States which receives hazardous chemicals produced in other countries for the purpose of supplying them to distributors or employers within the United States.

Label: an appropriate group of written, printed or graphic information elements concerning a hazardous chemical, that is affixed to, printed on, or attached to the immediate container of a hazardous chemical, or to the outside packaging. “Mixture” means a combination or a solution composed of two or more substances in which they do not react.

Physical Hazard: a chemical that is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: explosive; flammable (gases, aerosols, liquids, or solids); oxidizer (liquid, solid or gas); self-reactive; pyrophoric (liquid or solid); self-heating; organic peroxide; corrosive to metal; gas under pressure; or in contact with water emits flammable gas.

Pictogram: a composition that may include a symbol plus other graphic elements, such as a border, background pattern, or color, that is intended to convey specific information about the hazards of a chemical. Eight pictograms are designated under this standard for application to a hazard category.

Product Identifier: the name or number used for a hazardous chemical on a label or in the SDS. It provides a unique means by which the user can identify the chemical. The product identifier used shall permit cross-references to be made among the required list of hazardous chemicals, the label and the SDS.

Pyrophoric Gas: a chemical in a gaseous state that will ignite spontaneously in air at a temperature of 130 degrees F (54.4 degrees C) or below. “Safety data sheet (SDS)” means a written or printed material concerning a hazardous chemical that provides detailed information about a hazardous chemical or product.

Substance: chemical elements and their compounds in the natural state or obtained by any production process, including any additive necessary to preserve the stability of the product and any impurities deriving from the process used, but excluding any solvent which may be separated without affecting the stability of the substance or changing its composition.

Unclassified Hazard: a chemical for which there is scientific evidence identified during the classification process that it may pose an adverse physical or health effect when present in a workplace under normal conditions of use or in a foreseeable emergency, but the evidence does not currently meet the specified criteria for physical or health hazard classification in this section. This does not include adverse physical and health effects for which there is a hazard class addressed in this section.

Use: to package, handle, react, emit, extract, generate as a byproduct, or transfer.

Work Area: a room or defined space in a workplace where hazardous chemicals are produced or used, and where employees are present.

Workplace: an establishment, job site, or project, at one geographical location containing one or more work areas.

Forms

This policy does not have forms associated with it at this time. Upon periodic policy review this area will be evaluated to determine if additional information is needed to supplement the policy.

Related Information

This policy does not have related information at this time. Upon periodic policy review this area will be evaluated to determine if additional information is needed to supplement the policy.

Document History

• Last Reviewed Date: February 08, 2023
• Last Revised Date: February 08, 2023
• Policy Origination Date: January 05, 2013

Who Approved This Policy

Approved and reviewed by Adelphi University’s Safety Committee