Telephone backup for electronic material safety data sheets

October 13, 1998
Mr. Mark Hoffman
Rudolph/Libbe, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Hoffman:
Thank you for your letter of July 10, to Ms. Jule Jones, Office of Construction Standards, Directorate of Construction. Your letter has been referred to the Office of Health Compliance Assistance, Directorate of Compliance. Please excuse our delay in responding. Your letter asked the following question:

Is it acceptable, as a back-up system for electronic access, for employees to request a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) over the telephone? The MSDS would be delivered to the employee as soon as possible, but no longer than two hours later.

MSDSs are an important part of the safety and health information in the workplace. The Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) requires that MSDSs "are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s)." In this regard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has interpretted the term "readily accessible" to mean "immediate" and would consider a two hour interval between an employee's request for an MSDS and receipt of the information to fall short of this criterion.
In a telephone convervation with a member of my staff, you further asked whether hazard information transmitted orally over the telephone would be considered adequate as a back-up system in the event of failure of the primary electronic system.
In general, we have not allowed transmittal of hazard information over the telephone. However, if the employer is relying on telephone transmittal of hazard information only for the purposes of backing up the primary electronic system, and if the MSDS will be provided as soon as possible after the request was made, we would consider this system an adequate back-up to the primary system.
We trust this answers your questions. If further information is needed, please feel free to call [the Office of Health Enforcement at (202) 693-2190].
Sincerely,
Richard E. Fairfax
Acting Director,
Directorate of Compliance Programs

[Corrected 12/6/2024]