In 2023, the OSHA performed almost 35,000 inspections across the United States. During these, they needed to cite safety violations almost as often as these inspections occurred, with numbers approaching 30,000 on the top ten citations alone. So, if you handle or transport various chemicals during your business, how do you avoid becoming a similar OSHA statistic?
We have written this guide to help you understand how keeping SDS sheets online via KHA’s software can help you comply with OSHA standards. Discover the best practices for maintaining your safety information and ensuring your team can always access it.
The Importance of Ensuring Compliance with OSHA Standards
The OSHA’s rules make it clear that all hazardous chemicals used in the workplace need a matching safety data sheet (SDS). Your employees also need to be able to access these at all times.
Not complying with these rules can often result
- Harm coming to workers
- Hefty fines
- A legal response
- Workplace accident liability
- Long-term reputation damage
OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard has specific rules (29 CFR 1910.1200) that outline when a business fails to meet safety requirements. It defines how a company should “provide information to their employees” when they handle hazardous chemicals on the premises.
How Online Access for SDS Sheets Ensures Compliance
When you have chemical safety sheets in an easily accessible online system, employees can access them at any moment, no matter where they are. Doing this can ensure continuous compliance with OSHA compliance, so long as they remain up-to-date.
Digital SDS systems, such as those provided by KHA, can enhance the accuracy of these sheets as they can eliminate many of the risks of physical items. For example:
- Misplacing sheets
- Damaged sheets
- Out-of-data sheets
- Different sheets in different departments
An online SDS database also allows any audits to occur faster due to the speed at which inspectors can access the data. You can then return to your daily business faster.
As an example of a few of the OSHA mandates you can avoid failing to adhere to by having SDS sheets online, investigate the following:
- 1910.1200(g)(8) – Employee access to SDSs
- 1910.1200(h)(3) – Employee hazard communication training
- 1910.1450(f)(3) – Laboratory rules regarding SDSs
The above list is not exhaustive but shows that OSHA has clear SDS efficiency, access, and training regulations.
Such a system can also offer other simple benefits that can streamline accessing SDS sheets online, including:
- Employee out-of-hours SDS access
- Reduced time searching for documents
- Powerful SDS search functions
- Smartphone integration through browsers or apps
- A single source of truth to prevent inconsistency
- Automated pushing of new information to users
- Notifications of SDS updates
- Tracking of access and SDS updates for auditing
Together, these benefits offer a clear and easily-used digital SDS system. Features like these can help you avoid problems with OSHA and take much of the weight off your shoulders.
Streamlined SDS Management
An electronic SDS management system reduces the administrative burden of maintaining physical SDSs. You do not need to keep track of individual sheets, reducing the amount of waste that comes with physically changing them when updates occur. These updates can, thus, occur more frequently without worrying about the strain it will cause users.
Using an SDS management system also allows you to perform compliance checks faster. Instead of looking at each sheet, an auditor can investigate the central database’s copy and ensure that the sheet held there is accurate. If there is a problem, you can then investigate when somebody last updated it, if at all.
Such a solution is also heavily scalable. An online SDS system can accommodate the needs of companies of varied sizes, allowing small and large businesses to use these data sheets.
Depending on your solution, you can also customize the level of access each user has. Using role-based permissions, you can specify that only trusted users can make edits to SDSs, avoiding issues related to:
- Accidental changes
- Malicious actors
- Unclear levels of responsibility
- Bulk access changes that take a long time
Growing companies can also maintain compliance as their hazardous materials inventory increases without adding significantly more work to processes. Using a simple interface, users can receive access to specific SDSs, and users will see these updates in only a few seconds.
Users who need to go offline can also maintain access to these documents. Employees who need to travel somewhere without WiFi or other connectivity can collect the latest data sheets automatically without manually selecting them. Then, they can view the data when needed without returning to a connected location.
Enhanced Safety and Risk Management
When issues occur in a workplace, such as spills or exposure, you want responders to have fast access to the data, too. Having a single source of truth means all you need to give anyone responding is access to the online system. You need not gather paper copies of any documents and ensure they are the latest versions, speeding up access to critical information when it matters the most.
OSHA mandates that response personnel have instant access to SDS information under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120(q). EH&S officers need access to information such as material details or PPE requirements. They can then use an up-to-date SDS to guide the development of effective emergency strategies.
The level of access offered by an online data system is also beneficial when you need to train new employees. You can ensure that your training process includes all the latest information on all the material you hold.
As such, you can promote a safety-based culture in your workplace due to the proliferation of information needed to maintain such an attitude. A safety-oriented company culture can then make it much more likely that individual employees will maintain OSHA standards without prompting.
Stay OSHA Compliant by Taking SDS Sheets Online
Keeping SDS sheets online is essential to comply with OSHA demands and keep your workplace safe. KHA’s SDS management software gives you this capability, enhancing your company’s safety protocols in a customizable and scalable way.
Start your transition to a digital SDS system and save time and money. Contact KHA to receive a demonstration of what they offer, ensure OSHA compliance, and revolutionize your company’s processes today.
