Required OSHA Training Offered in Nov. 20 Webinar

Nov. 14, 2013

NBAA will present a 90-minute webinar on Nov. 20 that will allow participants to satisfy mandatory Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training requirements that go into effect on Dec. 1.

Specifically, OSHA’s new Hazard Communication Standard is designed to bring the U.S. into compliance with new international requirements for labeling and handling instructions related to hazardous materials. OSHA published the requirements in the Federal Register in March 2012.

The webinar, “Hazmat Awareness Training including the new GHS System Changes,” will begin at 1 p.m. EST, and the cost to participate is $49 per person. Each participant must register individually for the live event and participate in all interactive polling questions in order to receive a post-event completion certificate.

The new training requirements apply not only to aircraft maintenance department employees and pilots, but also to all company employees who may come into contact with hazardous materials while on the job.

Two of the most important parts in the OSHA standards require use of new labeling elements and a standardized format for safety data sheets, formerly known as “material safety data sheets.” Both are aimed at improving worker understanding of the hazards associated with the chemicals in their workplace.

“Every operator and aviation business needs to understand the new language used to communicate hazards in the workplace,” said Marty Grier, a member of the NBAA Safety Committee and senior manager of aircraft maintenance for The Home Depot in Atlanta, GA.

Grier observed that the number of chemicals present in a flight department hangar will vary widely, depending on the size and scope of the operation. A single-aircraft operation that contracts out its maintenance may have fewer than a dozen items, such as fuel, oil, grease and cleaning materials. A multi-aircraft flight department that performs maintenance in-house may have more than 150 different chemicals that fall under the new standard.