OSHA Required Deadline You May Not Know About-December 1, 2013

Do you use chemicals or produce chemicals in your facility?  You may not be aware on December 1, 2013, OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, REQUIRES you to train all of your employees on the new chemical labeling elements and safety data sheet format, in addition to the current training requirements.


New Pictograms for Hazard Communication

If you have MSDS's at your facility, you will start seeing changes, with the above pictograms, from now on and should receive new SDS (Safety Data Sheets) before June 1, 2105. 

General Overview:
According to the Hazard Communication Standard Final Rule Fact Sheet:
"New changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard are bringing the United States into alignment with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), further improving safety and health protections for America's workers. Building on the success of OSHA's current Hazard Communication Standard, the GHS is expected to prevent injuries and illnesses, save lives and improve trade conditions for chemical manufacturers. The Hazard Communication Standard in 1983 gave the workers the ‘right to know,' but the new Globally Harmonized System gives workers the ‘right to understand.'"

Dates You Need to Know:

Major Changes:

• Hazard classification: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to determine the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import. Hazard classification under the new, updated standard provides specific criteria to address health and physical hazards as well as classification of chemical mixtures.
• Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers must provide a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement, and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category.
• Safety Data Sheets: The new format requires 16 specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important protection information.

What are the Benefits?

• Enhance worker comprehension of hazards, especially for low and limited-literacy workers, reduce confusion in the workplace, facilitate safety training, and result in safer handling and use of chemicals;
• Provide workers quicker and more efficient access to information on the safety data sheets;
• Result in cost savings to American businesses of more than $475 million in productivity improvements, fewer safety data sheet and label updates and simpler new hazard communication training; and
• Reduce trade barriers by harmonizing with systems around the world.

Additional Information:
Hazard Communication Standard Final Rule

OSHA's Hazard Communication Safety And Health Topics

Globally Harmonized System Pictograms

Need more information or help

Critical Safe Equipment Operation & Maintenance Reminder From Aquafine UV

On November 13, we received a bulletin from Aquafine stating this precaution:  "This bulletin is a reminder of the potential risk of an unsafe condition arising due to sleeve bolt failure and quartz sleeve ejection if the unit is not properly maintained and/or safety guidelines are not followed. In order to ensure safe operation, it is essential that your personnel observe all the safety precautions set out in the O&M manual at all times".

 

"The sleeve bolts used on the SwiftBeverage, TrojanUVFit, TrojanUVLogic, TrojanUVPhox, TrojanUVSwiftSC and UVK 1000-30000 series of products can potentially fail, and should be inspected annually and replaced if a defect is noted."

 

Please locate the above listed UV systems in your facilities.  Have trained personnel inspect and replace parts as appropriate.

 

Additional Information:
Product Safety Bulletin AQ111313 from Aquafine

Critical Safe Equipment Reminder Letter
Need a trained technician to inspect your UV system

Finally Available! - Stainless Steel Resin Traps

After many requests, Res-Kem now has stainless steel resin traps available!  So, in addition to our standard PVC and CPVC resin traps, we now offer them in 304SS and 316SS.

304 Stainless Steel Traps Each Rated for 210 gpm Flow

The end connections have Van Stone Flanges for maximum installation flexibility.  All stainless steel units are fabricated to the customer's exact dimensions and flow requirements.  Each unit is hydro-tested to 160 psig. 
 

Why You Need a Resin Trap
Many water treatment processes use small granular, plastic, powdered, pelletized and/or crystalline media in a pressure vessel. Over the years, complex screens, slotted pipes, perforated plates, molded devices, etc. have been engineered to keep the media in the vessel. Through corrosion, chemical attack, thermal damage, rapid flow changes, system age and/or water hammer, these distribution systems will be damaged.

Example of a PVC Hub and Lateral Distribution System Installed in New Steel Tank

When the distribution systems are damaged, the ion exchange resin or other media will get into the water distribution system contaminating and/or destroying downstream RO membranes, expensive membrane filters, pumps, tanks, piping, processes and any product touched by this contaminated water.

Where Should You Install a Resin Trap? A resin trap should be installed in the product water line of most resin and media based water treatment equipment like: Softeners, Dealkalizers, Condensate Polishers, Demineralizers, Carbon Filters, Sand Filters,
Portable DI Tanks, Greensand Filters,and/or Multi-Media Filters.

Also, a resin trap should be considered in the backwash lines of most ion exchange and carbon systems because temperature related flow changes can cause these expensive materials to be sent down the drain.  

What is a Resin Trap?
A resin trap is a simple, protective sieving device to insure ion exchange resin or other filtration media does not leave the water treatment equipment, and travel downstream where it doesn’t belong. It offers a stainless steel wedge-wire screen with slots small enough to retain upstream ion exchange resins or other filtration media. The number and size of the openings are designed to keep the pressure drop to a ∆P=2 psi at the rated flow rate. A clear acrylic sleeve or borosilicate glass will visually indicate whether there is an upstream problem. A small ball valve allows for recycling of resin or media after the problem has been repaired.

Since the slots in the wedge wire are 0.010 inches, 254 micron, a resin trap protects, but does not replace, downstream cartridge filters, bag filters and membrane filters which generally have a much lower micron ratings.

For Additional Information:
Technical and Sizing Information of a Resin Trap
Stainless Steel Resin Trap Bulletin
PVC and CPVC Resin Trap Bulletin 
Res-Kem's Complete Line of Industrial Water Treatment Equipment