OSHA Publishes Proposed Rule to Adopt the Globally Harmonized Hazard Communication System

October 14, 2009

On September 29, 2009, Acting Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab announced the agency’s proposal to align OSHA’s current Hazard Communication (“HazCom”) Standard with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (“GHS”).  The proposed rule  was published in the Federal Register on September 30, 2009 and – if implemented without change – will significantly alter the labels and material safety data sheets that currently appear and accompany hazardous chemicals in the workplace.   Significant aspects of the proposed rule are described below.

Under OSHA’s current HazCom Standard (which was originally promulgated in 1983), chemical manufacturers and importers must evaluate the chemicals they produce or import and provide hazard information to downstream employers and workers by preparing labels and safety data sheets. Employers must have a hazard communication program for exposed workers, including hazard identification, container labels, safety data sheets and employee training. The HazCom Standard remains a priority for OSHA as 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics data revealed that more than 50,000 workers became ill in 2007 because of chemical exposure.

The GHS was developed -- after what Assistant Secretary Barab termed “decades of international negotiations” -- by a number of countries and international organizations to address inconsistencies in hazard classification and communication. The GHS is intended as a single, harmonized system for classifying chemicals and preparing labels and safety data sheets. Under the GHS, labels will identify chemical hazards through standardized format, signal words, pictograms, and hazard statements for each hazard class and category. Safety data sheets will be presented in a designated order with a specified sixteen-section format. The new standard requires workers to be trained within two (2) years of publication of the final rule to facilitate recognition and understanding of the new labels and safety data sheets.

The design/intent of OSHA’s proposal rule is to:  increase the quality and consistency of information provided to workers and employers; enhance worker comprehension; ensure the appropriate handling of chemicals; and reduce chemically-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses. OSHA speculates that the change will also make it easier for employers to train workers on how to safely handle chemicals shipped from various manufacturers and importers. Additionally, the new standard is supposed to decrease the cost of providing hazard information and facilitate international trade by eliminating the need for multiple labels and safety data sheets when shipping a product to several different countries.

OSHA expects that affected employers will incur one-time transition costs as a result of the proposed revisions, but that the ongoing annual compliance costs will be the same or lower than under the existing standard. OSHA will have a 90-day comment period on the proposed rulemaking, ending December 29, 2009. Comments should be submitted to OSHA electronically at http://www.regulations.gov/ (http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#home); by fax to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-1648; or by mail to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-H022k-2006-0062, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20210. 

This blog post was prepared with the assistance of Katherine A. Ritts, Esq.