Information for Workers

Oil spill cleanup workers should receive:

• An initial briefing covering the Site Safety Plan or National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) assignment form at the site, prior to their participation.
• A briefing on emergency procedures described in the specific HASP for the worksite
• Instruction on wearing appropriate PPE
• Information on the potential health hazards from oil and other chemicals that workers could encounter
• Explanation of duties to be performed
• Chain of command
• Instruction on decontamination procedures to follow
• All other appropriate safety and health precautions

You should be trained on OSHA's Hazard Communication so that you can understand the hazards of oil, along with other hazardous chemicals you could come in contact with, or are used at the worksite.

A vital document associated with a chemical is called a Safety Data Sheet. It provides important safety, health, and environmental information on the chemical. You need to review the SDS for the chemicals you could encounter, following the SDS's recommendation as appropriate.

Hazardous chemical containers must be marked with warning labels, such as the NFPA 704M diamond, shown to the right.

You should not handle unmarked, unlabeled containers.

To learn more about Oil Spill Cleanup visit our Oil Spill Cleanup Hazards Online Training web page.