Welding rods and the hazard-communication article exemption

October 6, 1995

Jennifer Shishido, Administrator
Hawaii Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Ms. Shishido:

This is in response to your letter requesting clarification of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) reference to welding rods in a March 21, Memorandum to Regional Administrators from OSHA's Directorate of Compliance Programs (DCP). The Memorandum was issued to provide guidance on the type of documentation that should accompany Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) citations for exposures to materials that could be covered under the consumer product or article exemptions of the HCS. Your specific question was whether OSHA considered welding rods to be either consumer products or articles.

Welding rods are solid, manufactured items that are formed to a specific shape. When maintained in this manufactured shape, welding rods do not release more than minute or trace quantities of hazardous chemicals, and therefore, could appear to be articles exempt from the HCS. Under normal conditions of use, however, welding rods emit significant quantities of metal fumes and other hazardous chemicals and do not meet the HCS article exemption.

The March 21, Memorandum, outlines the required documentation needed to support HCS citations for items, such as welding rods, that could appear to meet the HCS article exemption. In your letter, you state that, when issuing HCS citations, your staff currently identifies the specific hazardous chemical that a particular welding rod may emit. In accordance with the guidance on page 3 of the March 21, Memorandum, Federal OSHA requires that your compliance officers must also:

1. Identify the product name and the concentration of the hazardous chemical(s) contained in the rod or its coating, and indicate if the hazardous chemical(s) was included on the employer's hazardous chemical inventory;

2. Document the activities or operations that resulted in employee exposure to the hazardous chemical(s) contained in the item and the duration of use; and

3. Where available, attach the MSDS for the cited product.

We hope this response provides the clarification you need. If you have further questions, please contact [the Office of Health Enforcement at (202) 693-2190].

Sincerely,
Ruth E. McCully, Director
Office of Health Compliance Assistance

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

[Corrected 12/6/2024]