2 replies to this topic

[al m]

i started working for a new company. found in maintenance shop they are storing various chemicals, lubricants, paints, and other misc items in a general use style cabinet. inside also are food grade & non-food grade items stored next to each other. i have brought this up to management and suggested getting new haz-mat lockers. they said it is fine, they dont use it all that often, and tat is too expensive.

 

i have tried to look for regulations on this but get overwhelmed with so much info and sometimes not exactly with the info i am trying to show how this may be improper and against regs. can anyone help point me in the proper directions under the EPA or OSHA or other for the proper guidelines to this.

 

also do flammable storage cabinets have to be self-closing? i've looked at a few companies that sell them and they offer both self closing and manual close.

 

thx

Edited by al m, 18 September 2023 - 06:50 PM.

[jfrey123]

OSHA/EPA regs will generally cover the employee and environmental safety of those chemicals, not much regarding food use issues you're concerned about.  Obviously anything flammable will need to be in an appropriate fire cabinet.

 

I've had to deal with similar issues, food grade vs non-food grade stored together is always going to perk an auditor's interest.  In those days, my management didn't want separate cabinets due to the cost, so they compromised with me and we dedicated top shelf space to food grade only, and all non-food grade when on shelves below with labeling on each shelf to mark as designated spots.  That combined with training and maintenance able to demonstrate their knowledge between the two to an auditor got me through SQF audits.  Granted, auditors would have preferred food grade be better separated, they couldn't find actual fault with our solution.

[Hoosiersmoker]

We have designated the top of the flammables cabinets as the food safe chemical storage space with signage designating that space for that purpose. Granted, we don't have a great deal of regular chemicals in use anywhere except maintenance nor food safe chemicals out in production areas. Food safe chemicals can be on their own shelf nearly anywhere. Why not just put up a shelf large enough to store food safe chemicals somewhere?