Shimadzu's Amazing Admissions
....sad but true!
August 1, 1996
Ms. Joyce Tapper, Administrator
Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation
State of Maryland
501 St. Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202-2272
Dear Ms. Tapper,
This letter is in response to your July 22, 1996 letter regarding MOSH Case 1603. Your
letter states that the complainant says "employees are not provided with the
required material safety data sheets or 'right to know' training and materials, and are
provided with insufficient training in the use of the hazardous materials with which they
work."
My investigation revealed that Shimadzu's current procedure is that MSDS sheets be
available at the corporate headquarters for immediate distribution to our employees if the
need arises [there was a long time when this was not true!]. We keep a copy in our
Special Manufacturing department for distribution [they do now but they didn't
always!]. Additionally, new employees are trained by their supervisors in Hazcom
issues as part of their orientation [too bad Mr. Carder was not under oath when he
stated this falsehood but that day is nearing!]. We [last] held Hazcom
training for all employees in 1991, but did not continue with annual training because the
supervisors were supposed to do the Hazmat training during the new employee orientation [when
possible - blame someone else!] . Apparently, some of the supervisors let this
training slip through the cracks [what else fell thru the cracks?].
Since we had an incident at a customer site, the following actions have been
taken:
· We purchased a CD ROM system with all of our chemicals MSDS's on it so we can produce
an MSDS at any time [yeah, but after the fact!].
· We are purchasing most of our "columns" from Supelco and they already
have the chemicals inside, so we are handling less hazardous materials [are they
really?]. Every shipment we send out that contains hazardous chemicals has an MSDS
with it [but how many columns (and who knows what other hazardous materials) were sent
out without an MSDS prior to the reportable OSHA accident at a
customer site in December 1995?].
· As of August 15th, Human Resources will do the Hazcom training with all new
employees [it would appear that they're hoping to fill in that "crack"
thing!].
· In September, we will begin annual Hazcom training or retraining for all employees,
so we know everyone has been trained. The training will cover: Right To Know, How To Read
The MSDS, Chemical Spills Clean-Up, Handling Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Waste Laws [this
training was a day late and a dollar short for many employees!].
Although Shimadzu implemented Hazcom training in 1991 and then the orientation
checklist had the Hazcom training added to it, apparently some of the supervisors did
not complete this training [excuses, excuses, excuses.... the fact remains that
Shimadzu egregiously violated both state and federal law!]. I am implementing
Hazcom training from my department, so I am sure the Hazcom training is completed before a
person works in an area where hazardous chemicals are used [but what about those
employees who worked with or were exposed unknowingly to hazardous material before this
time?]. Many of our employees are chemists or Ph. D.'s [B.S.] and I think some
managers may feel these people are thoroughly knowledgeable about Hazcom, but I know we
cannot draw that assumption [Mr. Carder finally admits the obvious.... gotcha!].
I am thankful that this training deficiency was discovered before we had a serious
injury [Mr. Carder has no idea how many people were exposed throughout the Shimadzu
workplace directly or indirectly or for what period of time any exposures took place!].
I plan on making sure Shimadzu's Hazcom training is accomplished [well good for you....
its about damn time!].
If there is any additional information I can provide to you, please let me know [sure,
we'll start with interrogatories.... time is on our side!].
Sincerely,
Gerry L. Carder
Human Resources Manager
n.b. Thank you Mr. Carder.... you've cooked your (i.e.
Shimadzu's) goose!
n.b. Can you say: negligence, misconduct, reckless, impulsive, perfunctory, blameworthy,
inconsiderate, culpable, liability, blundering, careless, at-fault and guilty?
Back to Hazmat Bulletin
This page was last 
12/31/00