OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard provides a standardized approach to workplace hazard communications associated with exposure to hazardous chemicals. OSHA updated the standard in 2012 to align with the third revision of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Now OSHA is again updating the Hazard Communication Standard to align with the seventh revision of the GHS. Many other countries have adopted the seventh revision, so this update will eliminate many of the inconsistencies between US and international requirements.

Some of the key changes include:

• New methods for determining key properties of regulated substances, such as flammability, solid/liquid, explosives, gases, and oxidizers
• New definitions of several physical and health hazards
• New hazard classes for aerosols and desensitized explosives
• New SDS and label requirements for foreseeable emergencies
• New information that must be on labels and deletion of some exclusions
• Revise requirements for relabeling existing stocks of products
• Exclusions for labeling small containers
• Revised requirements for trade secrets and reporting ingredient concentrations in specific ranges
• New requirements for impurities and additives
• Significant changes in hazard statements and precautionary statements
• Updated hazard label elements for several hazard classes and categories.

Learn the details of these changes and how they can impact your products at one of Environmental Resource Center’s upcoming live webcasts.