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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
OFS maintains a strong code of safety for its employees and the environment. Our policy is concise, clear, and guides everything we do and everything we make. Workplace safety and protection of the environment are part of every employee’s job and responsibility. No job is too important that we cannot take time to plan how to do it safely and effectively—and then do it safely—for people and for the environment. No employee has the authority or the responsibility to work unless the job will be done safely.
Our customers recognize that keeping our employees healthy, uninjured, and our plant fully running without accidents results in carefully crafted products delivered on time.
Part of our environmental commitment, includes adhering to U.S. and international laws and directives related to manufacturing and environmental practices. Click here for our policy on the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive.
ROHS Frequently Asked Questions
QUESTION: Do OFS products comply with the European Union (EU) Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive (Directive 2002/95/EC, dated 27 January, 2003) which bans certain substances in electrical and electronic products sold in Europe?
ANSWER: Yes, OFS restricts the use of lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in our products in accordance with the requirements of the RoHS Directive. Some OFS products are used in applications that are exempt from the RoHS Directive, and consequently, these products may contain RoHS listed substances. These exemptions do not constitute a failure to comply (see also next Question). Customers planning to use OFS products in applications that require RoHS compliance should first verify with OFS the compliance status of the particular products they are purchasing from us.
QUESTION: Does being in compliance with RoHS mean none of OFS’s products contain any of the substances named?
ANSWER: The RoHS Directive itself makes provision for certain product end-use applications to be exempted from the regulations. These exemptions apply to some OFS products and do not constitute a failure to comply. Also RoHS guidelines do include threshhold limits for some substances--that is, their use is not completely banned but must be held within certain percentage limits by weight. Using these substances within the stated threshholds is still considered RoHS compliant.
QUESTION: Does OFS make "lead-free" products?
ANSWER: OFS products contain lead concentrations below the RoHS Directive threshold level of 0.1% by weight or 1,000 parts per million. The RoHS Directive allows for higher concentrations of lead in alloys of steel, aluminum, and copper. Whenever OFS parts contain these metals, lead may be present as an alloying element up to 0.35% by weight in steel, up to 0.4% by weight in aluminum, and up to 4.0% by weight in copper. Customers planning to use OFS products in applications that require "lead-free" should first verify compliance of individual products to that stricter standard directly with OFS.
QUESTION: How do I verify RoHS compliance of a product I buy from OFS? Does OFS label RoHS compliant products?
ANSWER: OFS products are not individually labeled for RoHS compliance. Current catalog products are listed on a searchable matrix to indicate RoHS compliance status. For older products or non-catalog specialty items, please contact us with the part number (and lot number or date of shipment from our factory, if available).
http://www.specialtyphotonics.com/about/export%20control.php
QUESTION: Can’t I just use the MSDS sheets to determine whether a product is RoHS complaint?
ANSWER: US manufacturers are not required to list hazardous ingredients that comprise less than 1% of a hazardous chemical mixture on MSDSs unless the chemical is a carcinogen, at which point the threshold drops to 0.1%; cadmium and some forms of lead are probable or confirmed human carcinogens and would fall into this lower-threshold category. RoHS thresholds may be lower than the reporting limits for MSDSs; therefore MSDSs cannot (typically) be solely relied upon to determine RoHS compliance.
QUESTION: How does OFS ensure it stays compliant with RoHS?
ANSWER: RoHS compliance has been incorporated into our ISO quality procedures, including our procedure for designing and manufacturing new products. Our new product design process includes several controls at different points in the system to ensure that appropriate materials are chosen, designed in, purchased, and used in manufacturing.
QUESTION: What about OFS’s compliance with other national and international environmental regulations, such as China RoHS or Japanese Green Procurement?
ANSWER: With renewed worldwide concern about the environment we all share, many nations are commendably adopting regulations to ensure a safer environment on a commercial level. We are aware of several such initiatives, such as GADSL, China RoHS, JGPSSI, California Proposition 65, but our system for monitoring and reporting our results with respect to these other groups, and in some cases their standards are not fully finalized to the point where we could give a definitive declaration regarding our compliance. OFS’s compliance to the European RoHS standards does not ensure that we are also compliant with every regulation of other standard bodies. Compliance with some aspects of these other regulations are easier to verify than others, for example phthalate content. If you have a specific question or need to verify chemical composition of a particular part number, please contact us directly.
OTHER QUESTIONS?
For any additional concerns not addressed here, please contact our Customer Relations Department at: (860) 678-0371, and press 1 at the menu.
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