Yeah, I see where you're coming from .............. but you might want to read this stuff below and determine the applicability. 29CFR1910.1450 deals with the control of exposure to and not so much with the control of hazardours materials.
May 28, 1999
Ms. Maricela Carter
Baker Hughes; Baker Petrolite
Safety Programs
3900 Essex Lane
Houston, TX 77027
Dear Ms. Carter,
We have received your September 15, 1998 letter to Richard Fairfax, Director, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Directorate of Compliance Programs (DCP), in which you asked questions regarding the classification of your laboratory under the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), 29 CFR 1910.1200, or the Chemical Hygiene Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1450. Your inquiry can be summarized into two questions, which are outlined below.
Do our laboratories (including quality assurance laboratories) fall under the Chemical Hygiene Standard (29 CFR 1910.1450) or the Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200)?
The best way to approach this question is to provide you with further information to allow you to make this determination, as we are not familiar with your work processes. Laboratories considered quality control/quality assurance laboratories are classified as adjuncts of production operations and are not covered under the Laboratory Standard, but are covered under the HCS. For those laboratories covered under the Laboratory Standard, the requirements of the HCS are superseded, and the Laboratory Standard takes precedence. Laboratories covered under the Laboratory Standard are those which use or handle hazardous chemicals in which all of the following conditions are met:
Chemical manipulations are carried out on a "laboratory scale",
Multiple chemical procedures or chemicals are used,
The procedures involved are not part of a production process, nor in any way simulate a production process, and
Protective laboratory practices and equipment are available and in common use to minimize the potential for employee exposure to hazardous chemicals.
The Laboratory Standard does not apply to laboratory use of hazardous chemicals which provide no potential for employee exposure. Examples of these would be the use of test media such as "dip and read" tests or commercially prepared pregnancy tests.
Can Baker Petrolite supply its customers with a contact sheet or label stating formulation ID, date formulated, contact person, phone, address, storage and handling information, and warning information (instead of a formal MSDS)?
Baker Petrolite is directly responsible for providing MSDSs and labels which meet all the requirements of the HCS. Containers of chemicals which meet the definition of a hazardous chemical under the standard must be labeled with:
the identity of the chemical,
appropriate hazard warnings, including the target organ effects, and
the name and address of the chemical manufacturer, importer, or other responsible party.
MSDSs must contain all of the required information in paragraph (g) of the standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200, Material Data Safety Sheets. Although there is no required format for presenting hazard information, we have included a sample MSDS form which you might find helpful.
Thank you for your inquiry and we hope you find this information useful. If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to call the Office of Health Compliance Assistance at (202) 693-2190.
Sincerely,
Richard Fairfax
Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs
_____________________________________________________________________________
January 17, 1991
Mr. Thomas Ozimek
Industrial Hygiene Supervisor
BASF Corporation
1609 Biddle Avenue
Wyandotte, Michigan 48192
Dear Mr. Ozimek:
This is in response to your letter of October 17, 1990, to OSHA's Region V Office, requesting interpretations on the Laboratory Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1450. Your letter has been forwarded to the National Office for response. We apologize for the delay.
Your questions and our answers are as follows:
1. Does 29 CFR 1910.1450 cover quality control laboratories where these facilities support the production process through sample analysis? NOTE: See attached interpretation from Avenel area office.
The preamble to the standard indicates that most quality control (QC) laboratories are not expected to qualify for coverage under the Laboratory Standard, since they are usually adjuncts of production operations which typically perform repetitive procedures for the purpose for assuring reliability of a product or a process. This response does not contradict the letter from OSHA's Avenel Area Office.
2. If samples are taken during different phases of the production process to verify quality control of the process, would these labs be covered under 1910.1450 or under 29 CFR 1910.1200?
These labs assuring quality control of the production process would not be covered under 1910.1450 but would be covered under other general industry standards including 29 CFR 1910.1200.
3. Are environmental labs performing analysis on samples for compliance under EPA regulations covered by the Lab Standard?
Yes. Most if not all of these laboratories are not conducting quality control of production processes but are monitoring emissions for environmental control purposes; therefore, they are not exempted from the Laboratory Standard. Such operations would only be considered quality control of production if the result of the monitoring is used as a source of information for process control adjustment.
If making secondary standards is part of the quality control of a production process, the Laboratory Standard would not be applicable. If blending operations result in a product, they would be considered as production processes and not be within the scope of the Laboratory Standard.
4. Request specific clarifications of the following conditions defined under "laboratory use of hazardous chemicals," including: chemical manipulations, production versus non-production, and multiple use of chemicals.
Chemical manipulation simply means the use of chemicals. Production means an operation where a product is produced. Examples of production facilities are refineries, utility- generating companies, manufacturing plants. Multiple use of chemicals (the actual wording in the standard is "multiple chemical procedures or chemicals are used") means using chemicals in laboratory procedures.
Your letter also addressed a concern that QC labs have limited coverage under 29 CFR 1910.1200, and no coverage under the laboratory standard. We are enclosing pages A-3 and A-4 of the updated Hazard Communication directive, CPL 2-2.38C for your information. The coverage of laboratories is limited under the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) because it was expected that most laboratories would be covered by the Laboratory Standard. However, the directive does state that QC laboratories would generally be covered by the HCS. Please note that in the previous directive, there was no reference to limited coverage of QC labs under HCS as you had inferred.
We hope we have adequately addressed your concerns. If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Patricia K. Clark, Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs
