Category: Chemicals

Today’s workplace uses thousands of chemicals, many of which are hazardous. The resources in this section will help guide you in the safe and legal identification, storage, transport, and use of these chemicals, and in making sure that your employees right to know how to be safe around such substances is provided, as required by law.

Q&A: HazCom at multiemployer worksites

Recently, we received the following question from a subscriber: I need to include wording in my hazard communication program to comply with 29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(2)(iii). Do you have any suggestions?

Widely Used Pesticide… Canceled!

Following through on a court ruling, the EPA has issued a final cancellation order for sulfoxaflor, a widely used pesticide active ingredient manufactured by Dow AgroSciences and registered by the EPA in May 2013.

Q&A: HazCom Labeling for Consumer Products

Recently, we received the following question from a subscriber: We are trying to come into full compliance with GHS labeling requirements. Are we required to affix labels to items such as can of WD-40, for example?

GHS Container Labels Review—What Employers Need to Know

The final deadline for hazardous chemical manufactures, importers, and distributors required to comply with the Hazard Communication (HazCom) label requirements that were amended when OSHA adopted the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) has passed. The June 1, 2016, deadline for employers to update alternative workplace labeling and their hazard communication […]

GHS Container Labels Review—What Manufacturers, Importers, and Distributors Need to Know

As of June 1, 2015, chemical manufacturers and importers are required to comply with the Hazard Communication (HazCom) label requirements that were amended when OSHA adopted the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) in 2012. Distributors had until December 1, 2015, to comply. Today we will review the requirements for GHS-compliant […]

The Third GHS Deadline: Are You In Compliance with the December 1 Requirements?

When federal OSHA adopted the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) in 2012, a compliance clock started ticking. And when Cal/OSHA began adopting the federal rule, it retained federal OSHA’s deadlines, meaning California employers don’t have extra time to comply with the changes.

Safer Chemical Management: Can OSHA Regulate Exposures Without PELs?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published permissible exposure limits (PELs) for about 500 chemicals—and most of those PELs have not been updated since 1971. In the intervening four 4 decades, the number of chemicals used in the United States has exploded and, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxic Substances Control […]

Safer Chemical Management: Is OSHA Trying an End-Run Around PELs?

With just a few exceptions, OSHA’s permissible exposure limits (PELs) have not been updated since they were adopted in 1971. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) attempt at a mass update in 1989 was overturned by the 11th Circuit Court, and attempts to establish PELs for newly-recognized chemical hazards have largely been hamstrung in […]