WAC 296-800-17020   Make sure material safety data sheets (MSDSs) are readily accessible to your employees and NIOSH.  

     You must:

     • Make sure that MSDSs are readily accessible, easily obtained without delay during each work shift by employees when they are in their work area(s).

     • Make sure that employees, who must travel between workplaces during a work shift, such as when their work is carried out at more than one geographical location, can immediately obtain the required MSDS information in an emergency. (MSDSs may be kept at a central location at the primary workplace facility and accessed by means such as voice communication or laptop computer.)

Note:	• Electronic access (such as computer or fax), microfiche, and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the MSDSs are permitted as long as they do not create barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace.
	• Barriers to immediate access of electronic MSDSs may include:
	– Power outages
	– Equipment failure
	– System delays
	– Deficient user knowledge to operate equipment
	– Location of equipment outside the work area.
	Solutions to eliminating these and other possible barriers to access may require the availability of back-up systems, employee training, and providing access equipment in the work areas.

     You must:

     • Make MSDSs readily available, when requested, to representatives of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).



[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, and 49.17.060. 03-18-090, § 296-800-17020, filed 9/2/03, effective 11/1/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010,[49.17].040 , and [49.17].050. 02-16-047, § 296-800-17020, filed 8/1/02, effective 10/1/02; 01-23-060, § 296-800-17020, filed 11/20/01, effective 12/1/01; 01-11-038, § 296-800-17020, filed 5/9/01, effective 9/1/01.]