The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on May 20 published a sweeping revision of its Hazard Communication Standard, mostly to better align it with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and to clarify issues left unresolved by the last set of revisions in 2012.
“Most stakeholders would say (this) is a good thing as it provides a consistent and common approach to classifying chemicals and communicating hazard information,” John Ho, New York-based co-chair of the OSHA Workplace Safety Practice at Cozen O’Connor P.C., wrote in an email.
The new regulations, which go into effect July 20, will mostly affect chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors and, to some degree, “downstream users,” which will need to revise employee training protocols for storing and handling such substances, according to experts.
“Probably new training will be the biggest impact on downstream users,” said Valerie Butera, Detroit based senior counsel in the OSHA Workplace Safety Practice Group at Conn Maciel Carey LLP.
For larger enterprises involved in importing and distributing, many of the changes focus on updated labeling requirements and adjustments to safety data sheets that must accompany chemicals, according to Andrew C. Brought, a Kansas City, Missouri-based partner with Spencer Fane LLP, who said importers would be most affected.
The revised standard has been accompanied by controversy, as larger manufacturers have argued that greater disclosures on chemical makeup, such as concentration levels, would reveal trade secrets, experts said.
OSHA has long argued that disclosures are necessary to protect workers who could be harmed by exposure to chemicals and that emergency health care workers should know about the concentrations of the substances involved, Ms. Butera said.
“OSHA tried to balance the need for information with those trade secret protections by also adding to the rule that if there’s an emergency that a health care provider thinks involves a chemical, the manufacturer needs to disclose that information to the health care provider immediately so that they can try to provide better medical assistance,” she said.
Another issue has been adherence to the existing rules regarding chemicals, Mr. Brought said.
“OSHA believes most employers already have inadequate hazard communication programs, and that concept is supported by the enforcement statistics which routinely reflect HazCom violations as one of the highest penalized areas by the agency, usually only behind fall protection violations,” Mr. Brought said.
OSHA did not respond to a request for comment regarding any changes to enforcement of the revised standard.
