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We are all exposed to chemicals in our daily lives, whether we work in the environmental industry, a manufacturing environment or even maintaining a household. Information concerning the safe use of these chemicals is presented in various means, often via a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for use in General Industry or by warning labels affixed to the many household cleaning products we purchase.
Changes are on the horizon as the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) moves toward adoption of the Global Harmonization System or "GHS" for classification and labeling of chemicals. GHS has already been implemented in many other countries abroad.
- Why the change?
- GHS seeks to enhance workplace safety and minimize exposure, thereby reducing risk and provide a more consistent framework for communication of hazards associated with chemical use.
- What will it do?
- GHS will standardize the classification and labeling of chemicals to ensure their safe use by employers, employees, and the public alike. It will require employers to re-evaluate their existing hazard communication program to ensure that chemicals and their components are properly classified to comply with the standard. MSDS will be reconfigured to a newly-titled Safety Data Sheet (SDS) that will include additional physical and health hazard criteria.
- What are the elements of a GHS label?
- A GHS label will include the product name, its hazardous ingredients, a signal word such as "Danger" or "Warning," physical, health and environmental hazard statements by hazard class and category, supplemental information, precautions and pictograms, first aid information, and manufacturer information.
Currently, OSHA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Consumer Product Safety Commission and the like use a variety of different labels to communicate the hazards to the user. GHS will standardize the labels using signal words, warning statements, and symbols that can be more easily interpreted by the many end users. Training employees and education the public will play a key role in the success of GHS implementation.
OSHA released the GHS Proposal in the Federal Register on Monday, March 26th, with implementation scheduled for 60 days afterwards. There will be a phase in/transition period that ranges from 2-3 years.
EWMA has assembled a team of compliance experts to assist you with meeting the Global Harmonization System requirements. Margaret Halasnik is Director, Operation and Waste Management Services for EWMA in Parsippany, NJ. For more information, please call 800-969-3159 ext. 123 or Margaret.Halasnik@ewma.com.
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