Product category:
Safety and ventilation equipment
News Release from: Environmental Science | Subject: Wasps
Edited by the Laboratorytalk Editorial
Team on 07 November 2003
Communicating hazard information to the
workforce
A simpler form of document to augment the familiar SDS, which may be too complex and too inaccessible for some situations
The standard method of chemical hazard communication has been the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and the labelling information found on product containers However, experience has shown that this has not always been effective, largely because SDS tend to be complex technical documents which are not made available to the workplace and which would not in any case be readily understood if they were read at all
This article was originally published on Laboratorytalk on 9 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Document does not replace the full Safety Data Sheet, but does provide a visual summary of essential information alerting workers to potential hazards and safety actions
Reach for Wasps to avoid being stung
The Workplace Action Safety Protection Sheet (Wasp sheet) is a cost-effective communications tool for Reach, because it plugs the gap between the scientifically expressed SDS and most of the workforce
In some cases the language of the SDS may not even be that of some of the workforce.
Wasps (Workplace Activity Safety Protection Summary sheets) The use of Wasps sheets in the workplace will help to demonstrate management's concern for employee safety.
Wasps sheets do not replace the SDS but can help to communicate key information from the SDS in an easily understandable form.
Two levels of information are provided to cater for specific operational needs.
Both are directly exported from ESL's ChemWrite which is used in house to produce Chip3 SDS for their customers, and as for the SDS, these can be produced in Italian, French, Spanish and German as well as English.
Wasps/Tech - this quick reference provides key information to people who are involved in the technical part of activities such as laboratory work, storage logistics, fire fighting, first aid, transport, spillage and waste disposal.
Short text statements with identification of the main hazards are supported by graphic symbols.
Wasps/Ops - a largely graphic summary sheet providing operational staff with simple and continuous reminders of potential substance dangers, such as inhalation, skin contact, etc Also included are first aid actions or procedures, in a simple-to-understand format.
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