Free Chemical Hazard Guides
April 1, 2018 No Comments
A chemical hazards guide that I often take with me into the field is The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. It is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The information found in this guide will help users recognize and control occupational chemical hazards.
The Pocket Guide includes:
- Chemical names, synonyms, trade names, CAS, RTECS, and DOT ID and Guide numbers
- Chemical structure/formula, conversion factors
- NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs)
- NIOSH Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health values (IDLHs)
- Physical description and chemical and physical properties of agents
- Measurement methods
- Personal protection and sanitation recommendations
- Respirator selection recommendations
- Incompatibilities and reactivities of agents
- Exposure routes, symptoms, target organs, and first aid information
The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards is a very useful, well organized, and easy to use 454-page publication. This is one chemical safety reference that no occupational safety and health professional should be without! You can down load it for free here.
If I need more detailed chemical information I often use the OSHA Chemical Database. This huge, free, on-line data base is searchable by either chemical name or CAS number. Their full reports are outstanding and very comprehensive.
For even more information on chemical safety and toxicology, check out our toxicology webpage!