The Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require that the hazards of chemicals used in the workplace be identified by the chemical manufacturer or importer in Safety Data Sheets (SDS).
Without accurate warnings, employers and workers who handle hazardous chemicals may not have the critical information they need for protection.
The Clearya and BlueGreen Alliance analysis finds 30% of chemical Safety Data Sheets tested include inaccurate hazard warnings that put workers at risk:
Two examples of these errors were found in Safety Data Sheets for vinyl chloride and for benzene, well-studied human carcinogens. The SDSs defined these substances as skin and eye irritants, but failed to mention their carcinogenicity hazard (ability to cause cancer).
Did you know? Workers suffer more than 190,000 illnesses and 50,000 deaths annually related to chemical exposures in the U.S. according to OSHA. Workplace chemical exposures have been linked to cancers, and other lung, kidney, skin, heart, stomach, brain, nerve, and reproductive diseases.
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