Occupational health and safety information

A bundle of subscription sendees of more than 50 databases on occupational health and safety information, are fully operable in both English and French. Contains over 70,000 MSDSs as well as CHEMINFO database of hazardous information on over 1,044 chemicals. Available online through CCINFOline on CD-ROM through CCINFOdisc. 

Standard specifications are very important sources of chemical and occupational health and safety information. Most countries have a standardization body which prepares, organizes and promulgates national standards. It is usually the national standardization body which is represented on international bodies for standardization, thus ensuring harmonization and cooperation of action. The standards produced are usually listed in an annual catalog, which is updated by a monthly newsletter or journal. Very often the catalog will be computerized and available either online or on a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM). 

This section of ZIO also requires that employers provide employees with relative occupational health and safety information, and identify and remove obstacles or barriers to employee participation. Examples given in the advisory column on obstacles or barriers to meaningful employee participation are lack of response to suggestions for risk reduction and reprisals for bringing hazards to the attention of supervisors. Both of these examples define a negative safety culture. 

The Barbour Health and Safety Library provides vital reference information for occupational health and safety information-seekers. The library is reproduced on microfiche and contains the full text of publications ranging from legislation to standards and codes, advisory leaflets and data sheets. Another useful service is the catalogue of British Official Publications not published by HMSO, produced by Chadwyck Healey. This catalogue covers the publications of over 400 organizations financed or controlled, completely or partially, by the British government. 

Workers in the metals treatment industry are exposed to fumes, dusts, and mists containing metals and metal compounds, as well as to various chemicals from sources such as grinding wheels and lubricants. Exposure can be by inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. Historically, metal toxicology was concerned with overt effects such as abdominal coHc from lead toxicity. Because of the occupational health and safety standards of the 1990s such effects are rare. Subtie, chronic, or long-term effects of metals treatment exposure are under study. An index to safety precautions for various metal treatment processes is available (6). As additional information is gained, standards are adjusted. 

Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) on compact disc from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (can buy at CCOHS web site). "The HSDB(R) (Hazardous Substances Data Bank(R)) database contains data profiles on 4,500 potentially toxic chemical substances. It is created and updated by specialists at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Compiled from an extensive range of authoritative sources, HSDB is widely recognized as a reliable and practical source of health and safety information. Much of the data is peer reviewed. 

The CESARS database contains comprehensive environmental and health information on chemicals. It provides detailed descriptions of chemical toxicity to humans, mammals, aquatic and plant life, as well as data on physical chemical properties, and environmental fate and persistence. Each record consists of chemical identification information and provides descriptive data on up to 23 topic areas, ranging from chemical properties to toxicity to environmental transport and fate. Records are in English. Available online through CCINFOline from the Canadian Centre For Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) and Chemical Information System (CIS) on CD-ROM through CCIN-FOdisc. 

The remaining Sections e.xainine tluce important topics as tliey relate to the subject title of tliis book. Section 2.7 reviews the details of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s (USEPA s) Risk Management Program while Section 2.8 provides information on the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). The chapter continues with a short Section (2.9) on potential environmental violations and then concludes with a Section (2.10) on tlic Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. 

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCINFO). This set of four CD-ROM disks contains several valuable data bases of information that are updated on a quarterly basis MSDS, CHEM Data, OHS Source, and OHS Data. The MSDS component currently contains over 60,000 MSDS supplied by chemical manufacturers and distributors. It also contains several other data bases [RIPP, RIPA, Pest Management Research Information System (PRIS)], one of which (PRIS) even includes information on pest management products, including their presence and allowable limits in food. 

The third and fourth disks include Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) information. These disks contain data bases on Resource Organizations, Resource People, Case Law, Jurisprudence, Fatalities, Mining Incidents, and ADISCAN. Furthermore, information on Noise Levels, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHTEC) Non-Ionizing Radiation Levels, and a Document Information Directory System is readily retrievable. These CD-ROM materials are available from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety, 250 Main Street East, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 1H6. 

Your occupational health and safety officer at work can and should tell you whether chemicals you work with are dangerous and likely to be carried home on your clothes, body, or tools. Ask if you should shower and change clothes before you leave work, store your street clothes in a separate area of the workplace, or launder your work clothes at home separately from other clothes. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) for many chemicals used at your place of work. MSDS information should include chemical names and hazardous ingredients, and important information such as fire and explosion data, potential health effects, how you get the chemical(s) in your body, how to properly handle the materials, and... 

Innovation drivers Alternative paint strippers have been developed as a consequence of the chlorine debate . However, neither the detailed requirements related to occupational health and safety (TRGS 612 and 212) nor the lower efficiency (cf (3)) clearly supported the penetration of the market with the alternative paint stripping systems. One barrier may be that the users have to change their work and purchasing procedures to apply the alternatives successfully. By end of the nineties the construction employers liability insurance started, based on the public media, an information campaign about the risks of DCM-containing paint strippers. 

CCOHS promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing information and advice about occupational health and safety. 

Approximately three decades ago, the U.S. government created the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemicals (RTECS) database (www.ccohs.ca/education/asp/search rtecs.html). Initially available in book form only, it became later available on CD-ROM, from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, USA, or affiliated vendors (e.g., the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety [CCOHS] www.ccohs.ca). This database contains information on approximately 120,000 substances, including (where available) acute and chronic toxicity data for terrestrial organisms, primarily mammalian species, such as rats, mice, rabbits, monkeys, and humans. This database will be transferred to the private sector in the near future for maintenance. RTECS cannot be searched by structure, but by name, formula, CAS, and several other means. CCOHS provides also a website which allows limited searching of the RTECS database at ccin-foweb.ccohs.ca/rtecs/search.html, but access to data is for subscribers only. 

This database contains the complete text of over 130,000 Material Safety Data Sheets compiled by the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). This information was gathered from over 500 manufacturers and suppliers in the United States and Canada. Each record covers one chemical substance and provides trade and supplier name, description, chemical/physical properties, reactivity, health hazards, storage and disposal, personal protection, cleanup and disposal, and emergency first aid (CCINFOLINE, STN available on CD from CCOHS). 

This collection of several CD-ROM products provides a wealth of legislative, regulatory, handbook, directory, numeric, and bibliographic information focusing on occupational health, workplace safety, environmental hazards, regulatory information, and safety topics. There are 12 titles currently available. International in scope. Vendor Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Environmental/Safety Library ... 

Combines six databases with references to the world s literature on occupational health and safety and environmental medicine. Consists of CISDOC (CIS Abstracts by the International Labour Office), HSELine (from the Health and Safety Executive in the UK), MHIDAS (from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority), NIOSHTIC and NIOSHTIC-2 (from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), RILOSH Index (from the Ryer-son Polytechnic University Library, Canada) and MEDLINE-OEM (occupational and environmental medicine subset from the National Library of Medicine, US). Available from Silver Platter Information, Inc. updated quarterly. 

Infotext Environmental health and safety information directed toward occupational hygienists. 

Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Website http //www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/whmis/index.htm Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, MSDS http //ccinfoweb.ccohs.ca/msds/search.html (payment req d )... 

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