Leading up to this month’s 2012 U.S. Presidential election, the legislative landscape has been relatively uneventful. On top of their preoccupation with the election campaigns, lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have been reluctant to pin their agendas to any bill that might significantly alienate large groups of voters. Nevertheless, two relatively significant changes are coming down the pike for hazardous-chemical manufacturers in the U.S. Both of them are coming from a group that does not observe an immediate impact from the election cycle — the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Admin. (OSHA; Washington, D.C.; www.osha.gov) — and both are being addressed in the ChemInnovations conference program later this month (New Orleans, La.; November 14–15; www.cpievent.com).
Chemical Facilities National Emphasis Program (NEP).The first change is OSHA’s Chemical Facilities NEP, which outlines a new approach for conducting site inspections for the agency’s Process Safety Management (PSM) of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (29 CFR 1910.119). Part of the new approach is to focus on whether a company’s written PSM program is actually being implemented. The program is an expansion of a 2009 pilot program that covered a limited number of chemical facilities and is similar to OSHA’s NEP for petroleum refineries. Announced last November, the Chemical NEP applies to over 6,000 facilities that manufacture highly hazardous chemicals.
Since there is no deadline or formal inspection schedule, however, the majority of the anxiety at each facility is centered around the simple questions of “if” and “when” an inspection might arise. “It could be next week or next year. No one really knows,” says David Whitaker, a partner at Kean Miller LLP (New Orleans, La.; www.keanmiller.com) and speaker at ChemInnovations. For that reason, the most important thing you can do is be prepared, he says. At ChemInnovations, Whitaker will help attendees understand what the Chemical NEP means for them and how to be prepared for an inspection if it happens. Meanwhile, his colleague Steven Pereira, principal at Professional Safety Associates LLC (Denham Springs, La.; www.professionalsafety.com), will present his experience with over 50 PSM audits in the petrochemical and petroleum-refining industries and highlight typical “red flags” that get OSHA’s attention.
Hazard Communication Standard (HCS).The second change is a revision to OSHA’s HCS, which for the first time includes combustible dust in the definition of hazardous chemicals, and now requires training to specifically include combustible dust hazards. Employers will be required to train their employees by December 2013, with full implementation of the rule in 2015.
In his presentation, Impending Changes to OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard, Steven Luzik, senior process safety specialist for Chilworth Technology, Inc. (Princeton, N.J.; www.chilworth.com) will provide specific details regarding the revised standard, including the following three major changes to the previous version: (1) Hazard classification: The revised standard specifies criteria for classification of health and physical hazards, as well as classification of mixtures; (2) Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers will now be required to provide a label that includes a harmonized signal word, pictogram and hazard statement for each hazard class and category. Precautionary statements must also be provided. Chemical manufacturers and importers will be required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers; (3) Safety Data Sheets (SDSs): MSDSs will now be referred to as SDSs. They will now have a specified 16-section format.
Rebekkah Marshall