Meanwhile at the local level, the responsibility for communicating occupationalhazards to nail salon workers is predominately left up to manufacturersof products and employers. According to the Hazard CommunicationStandard, by law, manufacturers are required to provide material safety datasheets (MSDS) to their customers which outline safety information abouthazardous chemicals in a product. Employers are required to explain theseMSDSs to their employees and tell them about potential hazards linked tochemicals in nail products.Unfortunately, there is little tono enforcement of the HazardCommunication Standard in thenail salon industry. Enforcementfalls to inspectors with theOccupational Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) or, insome states, to State Boards ofCosmetology. Even betweenOSHA and the Boards ofCosmetology, there are not nearlyenough inspectors to be able tovisit each nail salon even once ayear. For example, in California,there are only 15 inspectors ina jurisdiction containing over9,000 salons24. The result is thatnail salon workers are rarely givenadequate information about the chemical hazards in their workplace.
By Alexandra Gorman and Philip O’Connor: Women’s Voices for the Earth, February 2007
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