FOTOFAX
BREVARD PLANT
PHOTO PRODUCTS DEPARTMENT
Vol. 17, No. 4
FOCUS:
Salute to the Editor
1 always have a good feeling when a plant employee receives recogni
tion for a job well done. Bob Hale was recently honored by the Caro-
linas Association of Business Communicators for his editorial published
in the Spring 1984 edition of FOTOFAX. Bob is too modest to tell you
about it, so I will.
The editorial, titled “Trouble Down the Road”, was selected as the
Best Editorial published by any member of the association during 1984.
This is a real honor. Bob writes interesting editorials that are both enter
taining and appropriate. He has a talent for expressing himself clearly
and relating his subject to every day situations. Since it may be difficult
for you to find your Spring edition of FOTOFAX, I have asked Bob to
make a reprint of his award-winning editorial and include it in this issue.
Congratulations, Bob!
We appreciate your fine work and the quality of our plant newspaper.
Trouble Down The Road
! didn't know 1 was going that fast,
and 1 don't know where the cop came
from, but there he was. about a mile
and a half back, blue light flashing,
coming up on me like I was public en
emy number one.
We were driving the interstate to
Asheboro to visit the North Carolina
zoo. The car was fairly new. very
quiet, and we were having a good
time talking about what we hoped to
see.
1 wasn’t hoping to see the Highway
Patrol.
1 took my foot off the gas and looked
at the speedometer. Almost 65 miles
an hour! 1 felt sick.
Grasping for hope. I decided not to
hit the brakes. Maybe he really hadn’t
clocked me; maybe . . . something. 1
knew he had me. What a dumb way
to ruin a vacation.
I couldn’t believe how quickly he
was closing the gap. I was barely
down to 55. and he was practically on
top of me. The black and silver shark
was hungry for a little maroon snack
today!
He was on us before my passengers
noticed—someone was about to ask
why we were pulling over when he
caught up to us. We were jolted by a
blast of air; engine noise exploded
around us.
In a few seconds, he was out of
sight.
"What in the WORLD was that!?”
said the co-pilot.
"Gosh." said a faint voice from the
back seat.
We never knew what the problem
was. but there was big trouble down
the road somewhere. 1 could only be
glad he had no time for small fish.
But it's different if 1 think I'm being
overlooked on the job. When I recog
nize a problem, find a solution, and
get "blown off the road" by being put
off or ignored. 1 tend to get cranky in
a rush.
Does that sound familiar?
"Change is essential", we hear. So
why doesn't someone change the ob
vious things we see every day?
1 think it’s because you’re getting the
job done pretty well, despite the prob
lems.
The person who may rush by you
today isn’t necessarily being rude.
Chances are that something "down
the road" is demanding all the atten
tion at the moment. "Setting
Priorities" is a matter of putting out the
fire before fixing the roof.
Hang in there! Handle the challenge
of the day; keep working on a better
way. The trip is worth the trouble, and
though we see through different win
dows. we’re all in this together.
Nothing Succeeds
Like
Have you entered the Quality Slogan
contest yet? A $100 prize is waiting for
the judges top choice, and another
dozen people will win $25 runner-up
prizes. But hurry! The contest closes
January 1!
hristmas
Holidays,
1984
YOU and OSHA Standard
^29CFR 1910.1200:
The “Right-To-Know” Law
You have a legal right to know the
hazards of chemicals you’re exposed
to on the job, says a new Standard
published under the Occupational
Safety and Health Act (OSHA). Al
though 24 states have had a variety of
“right-to-know laws” concerning
chemical hazards, this assures consis
tent standards throughout the country.
The OSHA Hazard Communica
tion Standard, which applies to all
chemical manufacturers, importers
and distributors, was issued after
several years of study and 4,253
pages of testimony during 19 days of
hearings (preceded by 221 written
comments).
Compliance is required by mid-
1986, but here at Brevard we’ve been
doing all the key elements since the
mid-1970’s.
The Right-To-Know law requires
that chemical industry employers es
tablish a hazard communication pro
gram to label chemicals, obtain and
record all information about them on
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
and make this information readily
available to employees.
Storage containers are to be la
belled with appropriate hazard warn
ings, although labels are not required
on pipes, kettles, and containers for
immediate use.
DuPont has always been active in
communicating hazards to its em-
by: Ed Hallowell, Brevard Plant
Industrial Hygienist
ployees, and we’ve been doing that
with chemicals for quite some time. At
Brevard, we evaluate all known infor
mation about chemicals, fill out an
MSDS, assign hazard ratings and re
quire labelling of all materials. (Our
labels meet the new OSHA standard).
Each area has a notebook with
MSDS’s for all chemicals used in the
area.
Area training programs are struc
tured to assure that people are notified
of hazards, trained in proper proce
dures for handling chemicals, and in
structed in the use of appropriate pro
tective equipment. We also have an
annual training program to pass on
new information and repeat special
warnings, such as cancer or reproduc
tive hazards. We use special logs
(sign-off sheets) to insure that every
one is contacted in these annual com
munications. Our group sends letters
to all areas when new data is received.
The Industrial Hygiene group has
recently installed a computer link,
along with Purchasing to assure that
hazards and label information are
known before materials are ordered.
This is also helping with our current
work to update all our safety data
sheets.
It’s the law: You have a right to
know chemical hazards. It’s nothing
new that we want to tell you all about
them.
Address Correction Requested
Bulk Rate
Box 267, Brevard, N.C. 28712
U.S. Postage
PAID
Brevard, N.C.
Permit #66