Post by Joe Cocker on Jul 10, 2014 14:09:15 GMT -5
Yesterday, I had a meeting with our business insurance company's Worker's Comp safety inspector. I have these meetings every year. We talk. I give him a tour of the shop and go over our safety equipment and procedures.
Well, this year, I was in for a surprise. The inspector asked about our Hazardous Materials Training program required by OSHA. I told him that I had been certified in Hazardous Materials Training ten years ago, and that we keep up to date MSDS's etc. Then, he said, that's good, but that system is being phased out...to be replaced by something called the Globally Harmonized System...by UN Mandate.
www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html
I asked if congress approved this, as it would be considered a treaty. He said no, it's a regulation that member states HAVE to follow, not a treaty, so the Obama Admin simply approved its enactment. We argued for a few minutes about whether the president even had that authority, but I realized I couldn't win an argument with an insurance inspector on a matter of government policy even if I was right. So, I let it go. All businesses in the US have until the end of 2015 to implement this new GLOBAL system.
In the end, he bitched about a lack of guards on our tool sharpening grinder, and said keep up the good work. We talked outside his car before he left and he urged me to fight this...though he had no ideas...but said that many government agencies now are adopting new UN mandated programs...and doing so very quietly.
The GHS was placed into effect December 2013 with a two year window of compliance. The inspector said that basically there was no public announcement, that they were keeping it quiet, by using insurance inspectors to break the news to employers in verbal visits...to keep it out of the news.
Well, this year, I was in for a surprise. The inspector asked about our Hazardous Materials Training program required by OSHA. I told him that I had been certified in Hazardous Materials Training ten years ago, and that we keep up to date MSDS's etc. Then, he said, that's good, but that system is being phased out...to be replaced by something called the Globally Harmonized System...by UN Mandate.
www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html
I asked if congress approved this, as it would be considered a treaty. He said no, it's a regulation that member states HAVE to follow, not a treaty, so the Obama Admin simply approved its enactment. We argued for a few minutes about whether the president even had that authority, but I realized I couldn't win an argument with an insurance inspector on a matter of government policy even if I was right. So, I let it go. All businesses in the US have until the end of 2015 to implement this new GLOBAL system.
In the end, he bitched about a lack of guards on our tool sharpening grinder, and said keep up the good work. We talked outside his car before he left and he urged me to fight this...though he had no ideas...but said that many government agencies now are adopting new UN mandated programs...and doing so very quietly.
The GHS was placed into effect December 2013 with a two year window of compliance. The inspector said that basically there was no public announcement, that they were keeping it quiet, by using insurance inspectors to break the news to employers in verbal visits...to keep it out of the news.