MSDS requirements for scrap materials

April 4, 1991

Mr. Robert D. Johnson
Resource Consultants, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Johnson:

Thank you for your letter of February 4, addressed to Ms. Melody Sands, regarding material safety data sheet (MSDS) requirements for scrap materials under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), 29 CFR 1910.1200. Your letter transmitted a copy of several different data sheets that have been developed by your company, Resource Consultants, Inc., along with your request that we review your hazard determination and MSDS production process for scrap commodities for compliance with the requirements of the HCS.

There are several points in your letter that we would like to clarify. First, you refer to the November 25, 1983, final rule on Hazard Communication. The currently-enforceable rule was published in the Federal Register on August 24, 1987, (a copy is enclosed for your reference). This final rule expanded the scope of the standard beyond only the manufacturing sector to all industrial segments. Your statement, therefore, that "We realize that the scrap recyclers are only required to pass along information to manufacturing customers when the scrap recyclers receive labels and MSDS's from employers who had scrapped the materials" is incorrect; information must be transmitted to all downstream employers with employees exposed or potentially exposed to the hazardous chemicals, not just those involved in manufacturing operations.

Secondly, OSHA has recently issued, on October 22, 1990, an update to its enforcement policies and procedures guidance document written as an aid for our enforcement staff to utilize during inspections for compliance with the HCS. This document, OSHA Instruction CPL 2-2.38C, is also enclosed for your reference and information and contains guidance you may find useful with regard to the applicability of the standard to scrap dealers (see, specifically, Appendix A, page A-29).

OSHA does not approve hazard determination processes or material safety data sheets in advance of actual enforcement inspections.

Any MSDSs utilized must be consistent with the guidance set forth by the final standard and interpretations made by the Agency. While OSHA does allow the use of a "generic" data sheet where the evidence supports the fact that a class or family of chemicals presents similar health hazards, any specific information that the chemical manufacturer has with regard to specific hazards must appear on the MSDS and label as appropriate. As pointed out in our compliance Instruction, if the supplier of the scrap added hazardous chemicals to the material, the supplier is responsible for providing a label and MSDS to the scrap dealer that addresses the additional hazard. We note that you have provided general language at the beginning of the data sheets you transmitted to us with your letter that warns that such additional hazardous chemicals "may or may not be present." Again, if the supplier has knowledge of the presence of any specific additional hazardous chemicals, that specific information must be passed to the downstream employer(s); a general warning such as provided on your data sheets is not acceptable.

As discussed in OSHA's May 23, 1986, letter to Mr. Edward L. Merrigan that you reference in your letter to us, MSDSs developed by trade associations are acceptable for use by employers if the information on them is accurate and complete. However, the scrap dealer utilizing the sheet is responsible for its accuracy and content. We note, after a brief review of the data sheet you supplied for "Bronze Scrap," that information on the health hazards associated with occupational exposure to lead is not mentioned in the "health hazards" section. Since lead is listed as one of the hazardous ingredients, information on the health effects of lead must be reported on the MSDS. We did not review the other sheets you sent with your letter, but all of the sheets you develop must similarly contain accurate information in all the required reporting categories or their use would result in the exposing employer being in violation of the HCS.

We hope this response and the enclosed additional information and references will be useful to you.

Sincerely,
Patricia K. Clark, Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs

Enclosures

[Requester letter reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]