Yesterday we talked about changes to injury and illness recordkeeping rules.
Here’s the next issue in our Top 5:
2. Revised hazard communication standard:
OSHA will be reworking its hazard communication standard (HCS) to reflect the internationally used Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).
This will significantly affect how businesses label hazardous products and maintain material safety data sheets (MSDS, soon to drop the “M” and become simply “SDS” to conform to the global standard). As in the pictured image, GHS will require all labels to have the red border, for example, around warning signals. Review this past Monday’s web chat with OSHA for more info on this change.
Since almost all businesses are required to keep accurate MSDS, the impact of this change will be significant and far-reaching.
It is unclear exactly when the administration will issue a final rule on the issue, but OSHA indicated in a web chat on Monday that it intended to publish a final rule in September.
