Components of Chemical Hygiene Plan

Todays article will be all about the chemical hygiene plan and it's components.  Before we go into detail of the components that make up a chemical hygiene plan, lets first discuss what it is.  According to the site https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10106 , a chemical hygiene plan is a program that is written by the employer that protect employees from hazardous chemicals in specific areas of work.  Specifics mentioned in this plan are PPE, or personal protective equipment, and procedures about certain practices in order to keep these employees safe.  We were given a sample chemical hygiene plan in class to reference from as well.  The components of this sample plan, to be a little bit more specific than what we just mentioned, are first an introduction of what this exact chemical hygiene plan is describing and where it is being executed at.  The next step is to write down, in detail, all of the standard operating procedures that are going to be done.  This is important because this is where you can see where there is a possibility for hazards to arise.  This may be confusing to some people, so lets define what an SOP is.  According to the site https://www.bizmanualz.com/save-time-writing-procedures/what-are-policies-and-procedures-sop.html , an SOP, or standard operating procedure is a written step procedure that fully describes all of a plants practices.  This has everything from procedures to safety information as well as where things are located in the lab.  The next section is stating that the company make's every effort to make sure that it's employees exposure to substances are regulated the best possible and that sampling is done if any levels are found to be over the PEL, or permissible exposure limit.  The next component is describing that all employees have fulfilled the proper training necessary to be familiar with such substances and equipment being used, as well as stating that information incase of an exposure is available to them to look at.  The medical program component basically states that all employees of the plant who work with hazardous substances have the ability to receive medical attention whenever medical personnel think it is necessary to do any sort of testing, for example if there is someone exposed to a substance and the sample shows the concentration above the PEL, or whenever there is an sort of leak or spill.  In our sample, there is a section for special procedures.  This components is where practices that require approval are listed, and say who approved them.  Hazard identification is the next component to the CHP.  This component describes how a company understands that the material safety data sheets, or MSDS are properly filled out and made available to the employees so that they can see the information posted on them if necessary.  This contains all sorts of information about the chemicals they are using which is very important to be made easily accessible.  The last component of the CHP is to record everything for each employee, medical records, testing, or written statements from them.  I hope this article was helpful in providing information about the CHP and its components.