According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 297 deaths linked to Chemical Hazard Examples in the workplace in America from 2011 to 2017. This might seem like a small number, but if it happens at your company, expect to go through some serious scrutiny and potential hardships resulting from a tragic accident.
The key is to put the right preventative measures in place when considering chemical hazards in the workplace. In this quick guide, we’ll run you through some common chemical hazard examples to be aware of. This way, you can better understand why you need to put prevention measures in place.
Now let’s run through the examples.
Ingesting Poisons
One of the worst chemical exposure disasters that can happen in the workplace is if an employee ingests poison. There are various ways this could happen, but we’ll touch on one example.
It could be the case that you store a poisonous fluid in a bottle that would normally have something drinkable in it, like a mineral water bottle. If an employee doesn’t know there is a dangerous substance inside the bottle, they may go ahead and drink it, thinking it’s water!
Keeping poisonous substances in this manner is against health and safety regulations. You should be labelling any container with hazardous chemicals inside super-clearly, so everyone knows to be careful when using the container.
You should also consider investing in something like sds online services when it comes to dealing with chemical hazards. SDS is short for “safety data sheets,” and if you want to manage your SDS with little hassle, a good online management system can really help you out.
Toxic Fumes Exposure
If an employee is not using the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) on the job, they may become exposed to toxic fumes. Or maybe an employee wears the right PPE, but they are not trained sufficiently enough on how to use it the right way.
For example, you could have an employee that’s cleaning an area that gives off toxic fumes when they are cleaning. If that employee doesn’t understand the risks, they might think they could take their mask off for a moment for a breather, resulting in potentially fatal toxic fume exposure.
One way to prevent this from happening is to conduct regular training with the same staff members about the risks involved. Training them one time is not enough.
Long-Term Chemical Exposure
Long-term chemical exposure is something that can be detrimental to employee health over a long period. This makes this type of exposure often difficult to detect.
For instance, long-term exposure to radium can have terrible repercussions on a person. This happened in the early 20th century in the case of the “radium girls.”
To prevent long-term exposure to hazardous chemicals, you need to do your research on all the chemicals you use in your facility. If you find some information you find concerning, you should call in a professional to give you best practice advice on the matter.
Chemical Hazard Examples Explained
We’ve now given some chemical hazard examples to be aware of. However, there may be many more scenarios to consider, so we recommend you get organized with your safety data sheets by using some sort of management system.
To get more insightful info on various other topics, check out our main blog page.