The American GHS implementation
Back in 2012, the Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) published the Hazard Communication Standard (HazCom), aligning its classification and labelling system to the 3rd revision of the GHS standard.
In order to improve the classification system’s effectiveness in ensuring worker protection and reducing the incidences of chemical-related occupational illness and injuries, last May 20th 2024, OSHA published the updated Hazard Communication standard (29 CFR Part 1910), updating its classification, labelling and Safety Data Sheet criteria to the UN GHS 7th revision.
HazCom update: what’s new?
Compared to the previous version, the following changes can be highlighted:
- Adoption of the Aerosol, Category 3 (also changing the name of the classification from “Flammable aerosols” to simply “Aerosols”)
- Alignment of the Flammable gases classification to UN 7th standard (adoption of subcategories 1A and 1B, with 1A including also pyrophoric gases and chemically unstable gases)
- Adoption of the Desensitized Explosive classification from the GHS UN 7th revision
- Adoption of the Chemical under pressure classification from the GHS UN 8th revision
The GHS environmental classifications (such as Aquatic Acute or Chronic) remains outside the scope of Hazard Communication Standard.
HazCom update: when?
The updated regulation has been officially issued on May 20th 2024. A transitional period has also been defined, prescribing the following mandatory compliance dates:
- January 19th 2026 for manufacturers of substances
- July 19th 2027 for producers of mixture
During the transition period, companies may comply with either the current HazCom (2012) regulation or newly issued HazCom standard.
Traceone has already planned an analysis of the HazCom update and will keep you updated.
For more information regarding the update of the HazCom standard, please use the following link:
