To require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to recognize that electronic forms of providing Material Safety Data Sheets provide the same level of access to information as paper copies and to improve the presentation of safety and emergency information on such Data Sheets.
Received in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jun 11, 1998
Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) to direct the Secretary of Labor to revise certain regulations to: (1) provide that an employer complies with a specified standard if the employer makes information on each hazardous chemical used in the workplace readily accessible (available for retrieval immediately in the case of an emergency) to employees through electronic access or other alternatives to paper copies of Material Standard Data Sheets MSDSs; and (2) require a standard format for MSDSs, including an emergency overview which warns of health and physical hazards that require immediate attention in an emergency. Directs the Secretary to: (1) study the comprehensibility of specified OSHA required hazard warnings to the average industrial worker; and (2) make the resulting report available to chemical manufacturers and importers required to prepare MSDSs.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Mar 23, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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