HazCom Training Quiz: 20 Questions With Answers (Free, Printable)
For trainers and supervisors: twenty questions that check whether a worker can actually read a label and find what they need on a safety data sheet, which is what OSHA's Hazard Communication training is meant to achieve. Each answer is folded away with a short explanation and the rule it comes from.
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1. What does the exclamation mark pictogram mean?
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Answer: Less severe health hazards: skin or eye irritation, skin sensitization, acute toxicity (harmful), narcotic effects such as drowsiness, and respiratory tract irritation.
It is not used for the most serious health effects; those get the health hazard, corrosion or skull and crossbones pictograms. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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2. Which pictogram warns that a chemical can burn your skin or damage your eyes?
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Answer: Corrosion (test tubes pouring onto a hand and a surface).
Corrosion covers skin corrosion/burns, serious eye damage, and chemicals that are corrosive to metals. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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3. What does the health hazard pictogram (a silhouette with a starburst on the chest) mean?
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Answer: Serious, often long-term health effects: carcinogen, mutagen, reproductive toxicity, respiratory sensitizer, target organ toxicity, or aspiration hazard.
Workers often confuse it with the exclamation mark; the silhouette is for the more serious, chronic effects. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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4. Are health hazards such as carcinogens, acute toxicity and corrosives represented in the standard pictograms?
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Answer: Yes.
Health hazard (carcinogens), skull and crossbones (acute toxicity, fatal or toxic), corrosion (corrosives) and the exclamation mark (less severe effects) all cover health hazards. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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5. Are physical hazards such as flammables and oxidizers represented in the standard pictograms?
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Answer: Yes.
Flame (flammables), flame over circle (oxidizers), exploding bomb (explosives, self-reactives, organic peroxides), gas cylinder (gases under pressure) and corrosion (corrosive to metals). (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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6. How many GHS pictograms are there, and how many does OSHA require on labels?
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Answer: Nine GHS pictograms; OSHA requires eight.
The environment pictogram (dead tree and fish) is not mandatory under OSHA, though manufacturers often include it. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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7. Which pictogram marks an oxidizer?
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Answer: Flame over circle.
Oxidizers can cause or intensify a fire. Do not confuse it with the plain flame, which marks flammables. (1910.1200 Appendix C)
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8. What six elements must a manufacturer's (shipped) container label include?
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Answer: Product identifier; signal word; hazard statement(s); pictogram(s); precautionary statement(s); and the name, address and phone number of the manufacturer, importer or other responsible party.
These are the label elements set by the standard for containers leaving the manufacturer or importer. (1910.1200(f)(1))
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9. Is a signal word one of the required elements on a shipped container label?
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Answer: Yes.
The signal word is either “Danger” (more severe) or “Warning” (less severe). Only one appears on a label. (1910.1200(f)(1)(ii))
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10. Is the product identifier a required label element?
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Answer: Yes.
The product identifier links the container to its safety data sheet. It must match the identifier on the SDS. (1910.1200(f)(1)(i))
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11. What must be done when a chemical is transferred into a secondary container, such as a spray bottle?
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Answer: Label it, either with the full shipped-container information or with the product identifier plus words, pictures, symbols or a combination that give the general hazard information.
An unlabeled spray bottle is a labeling violation unless the immediate-use exception applies. (1910.1200(f)(6))
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12. When does a portable container NOT need a label?
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Answer: When it is filled from a labeled container and intended only for the immediate use of the employee who performs the transfer.
Once it is handed to someone else, stored, or kept for later, it needs a label. (1910.1200(f)(8))
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13. How many sections does a safety data sheet have?
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Answer: Sixteen, in a fixed order.
The fixed format is what lets anyone find the same information in the same place on any SDS. (1910.1200(g)(2), Appendix D)
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14. Which SDS section tells you the first-aid measures?
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Answer: Section 4.
Section 2 is hazard identification, 5 firefighting, 6 accidental release (spills), 7 handling and storage, 8 exposure controls and PPE. (1910.1200 Appendix D)
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15. Which SDS section tells you what personal protective equipment to wear?
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Answer: Section 8 (Exposure controls / personal protection).
It also lists exposure limits such as OSHA PELs. (1910.1200 Appendix D)
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16. Must safety data sheets be available to employees during every shift?
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Answer: Yes, readily accessible in their work area during each work shift.
Electronic access is allowed only if it creates no barriers to immediate access, for example a working device and no password the worker lacks. (1910.1200(g)(8))
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17. When must employers provide HazCom training?
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Answer: At the employee's initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard is introduced into their work area.
Training must happen before exposure. OSHA does not set an annual refresher, but retraining is required when hazards change. (1910.1200(h)(1))
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18. What must HazCom training cover?
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Answer: How to detect a release; the physical, health and other hazards in the work area; protective measures such as work practices, PPE and emergency procedures; and how to read labels and use safety data sheets under your written program.
OSHA's policy is that required training must be presented in a language and vocabulary the employee understands. (1910.1200(h)(3); OSHA Training Standards Policy Statement, 2010)
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19. Is it safe to mix bleach and ammonia-based cleaners?
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Answer: No. Never mix them.
The mix releases toxic chloramine gases. Bleach mixed with acids (some toilet or drain cleaners) releases chlorine gas. (Product SDS, Sections 7 and 10)
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20. If a chemical could splash into a worker's eyes, what does OSHA require nearby?
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Answer: Suitable facilities for quick drenching or flushing of the eyes and body, within the work area, for immediate emergency use.
This applies where eyes or body may be exposed to injurious corrosive materials. ANSI Z358.1 is the usual benchmark for the details. (1910.151(c))
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