Hazard Communication Standard Update

OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard Update

The Hazard Communication Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200 (HCS) requires employers to ensure that their employees are informed and trained on any hazardous chemical used, moved, or stored in their workplace along with the protective measures employees need to take (e.g., engineering controls, administrative controls, or personal protective equipment) to work safely or handle a spill incident (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, n.d.). HCS is known as the “Right to Know” law and mandates a written hazard communication program be implemented. The written program needs to encompass the HCS elements of chemical inventory, labeling, safety data sheet/s, and training.

HCS obliges chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals and prepare labels and safety data sheets ensuring the chemical hazard information is provided for any chemical produced or imported for customers. The HCS is under proposed changes by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to align with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling’ s (GHS) revision 7 (Note: The GHS is currently working on revision 9). This HCS is typically updated every 2 years, but was last updated in 2012. OSHA announced this proposed rulemaking on February 5, 2021 which was published on February 16, 2021 in the Federal Register (Hazard Communication Standard, 2021).

The basic framework of the HCS will not change. All chemical manufacturers and importers will still have the responsibility to identify and classify chemicals they make or import. Also, all employers who use hazardous chemicals will still need to have a Hazard Communication Program to include providing employees information regarding the chemical hazards along with the protective measures to be followed.

To align the HCS with GHS revision 7, there are four HCS Appendices which have proposed changes. Appendix A—Health Hazard Criteria has proposed editorial changes to include revised health hazard definitions (e.g., germ cell mutagenicity); clarified classification scheme for Skin corrosion/irritation and Eye damage/irritation; and updated (general) hazard classes (e.g., clarified use of human experience data to validate acute toxicity). Appendix B—Physical Hazard Criteria has proposed changes in four categories including: (a) Pyrophoric and Unstable Gases will be placed under Flammable Gases Category 1A; (b) Flammable Gases will have a new subcategory of 1B for Flammable Liquids with low burning velocity or high flammability limit to include updated labeling information and a streamlined classification process; (c) Desensitized Explosives (i.e., Explosives that need to be wetted with water or alcohol, diluted with other substances, or dissolved or suspended in water or other liquid substances to suppress or reduce explosive properties) will be a new added category B17; and (d) Aerosols will be classified based on flammability and heat of combustion into Categories 1 or 2 with a flammability component and Category 3 with no flammable component. Appendix C—Allocation of Label Elements has proposed label element changes for new or updated hazards with updated guidance and precautionary statements. Finally, Appendix D—Safety Data Sheets will have updates to Section 9: Physical and Chemical Properties and Section 11: Toxicology Information.

Manufacturers of substances will have 1 year from the effective date of the proposed final rule to comply, and manufacturers of mixtures would have 2 years to comply. Due to the proposed changes and these timelines, there was a tremendous amount of feedback from stakeholders during the public comment periods. This led to a delay in OSHA being able to review and process the transcripts which in turn has delayed OSHA from stating a firm timeline for the HCS final rulemaking. As of July 2022, OSHA has not published the HCS final rulemaking timeline. During the November 2021 Society for Chemical Hazard Communication Meeting, Janet Carter of OSHA stated she did not expect OSHA to issue final rulemaking until December 2022 (Mole, 2021).

For occupational health and safety professionals, employers, and employees, the proposed HCS is to improve and enhance worker protection through added clarification of existing regulatory requirements; incorporating new hazard classes and categories; improving and streamlining precautionary statements; and increasing alignment with GHS facilitating international trade (Ryan, 2022).