According to the official site of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), chemical manufacturers, importers and distributors have until this coming December to cease shipping products with HazCom Standard labels. Instead, they have to transition to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) as part of the increased focus on compliance that has arisen over the years.
This is the second-to-last official deadline listed on the OSHA page, with the final “effective date” scheduled for June 1, 2016. That will be when employers are required to update their “alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication program,” as well as train their employees to respond to new dangers. Companies can still avoid a citation if they don’t meet the compliance requirements as long as they have a plan in place.
Writing for the National Law Review, Valerie Butera notes the changes involved in the general adoption of GHS protocol.
“Before the GHS project, the information required on warning labels and SDSs varied greatly among different countries and even among different agencies within the same country, causing a great deal of confusion for the regulated community,” she writes. “The deadline for compliance with nearly every aspect of the revised HAZCOM standard was December 1, 2015.”
GHS Chemical labels require specific elements that match government standards, so chemical companies need the tools to produce them. With an appropriate printer, producers will render the pictograms and textual information in a way that fits the product and is easy to read. They will also have more control over production cycle time, a useful trait when contending with deadlines.
Leave a Reply