From Safety.BLR.com:

This year, the United Nations will be implementing the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)–a new global system that will standardize definitions, data sheets, classification of materials, and labeling around the world. U.S. agencies will be making decisions about adopting these requirements in the U.S.

While this is ultimately good news for all concerned, in the short term the implementation of the GHS will require changes in all American workplace hazard communication programs–including all new labels and safety data sheets…

Here is a timeline of OSHA regulatory activities regarding GHS…

• Goal for publishing the proposed rulemaking is October 2008.
• Final rule could be published 12 months to 18 months after that.
• Compliance is likely to be phased in over several years.

Click on the above link for more information.

Nexreg has more information on GHS at the following link:

• GHS Strategic Planning (English)

To speak to a Nexreg representative about how GHS will impact your company, please call or e-mail Nexreg at:

Nexreg Toll Free: 1-866-361-3032
E-mail:info@nexreg.com

An article from Safety.BLR.com illustrates the expense companies face for non-compliance with MSDS and label law:

Two repeat violations with penalties of $27,500 are being proposed for violations similar to those noted during earlier inspections in 2007. Chemical containers lacked identification labels and chains used as slings for lifting loads were shortened using makeshift measures rather than reducing the number of links.

One citation with a $1,000 penalty has been proposed for the company’s failure to make material safety data sheets (MSDS) readily accessible to employees in their work area.

Click on the above link for the full story.

Nexreg has more information on MSDS authoring at the following link:

• MSDS authoring

To speak to a Nexreg representative on cost-effective strategies for MSDS compliance, please call or e-mail Nexreg at:

Nexreg Toll Free: 1-866-361-3032
Non-Toll Free: (519)488-5126 (London, ON, Canada)
E-mail:info@nexreg.com

From OSHA - a few key details below:

OSHA solicits public comment concerning its proposal to extend OMB approval of the information collection requirements specified by the Methylene Chloride Standard (Sec. 1910.1052).

DATES: Comments must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by June 23, 2008…

The standard entitled “Methylene Chloride'’ (MC) (29 CFR 1910.1052; the “Standard'’) protects employees from the adverse health effects that may result from their exposure to methylene chloride. The requirements in the MC Standard include employee exposure monitoring, notifying employees of their MC exposures, administering medical examinations to employees, providing examining physicians with specific program and employee information, ensuring that employees receive a copy of their medical examination results, training employees on the hazards of MC, maintaining employees’ exposure monitoring and medical examination records for specific periods, and providing access to these records by OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the affected employees, and their authorized representatives.

For more information, click on the above link.

A press release from the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication on their alliance and the Globally Harmonized System (GHS):

SCHC provides guidance for the improvement of the business of hazard communication for chemicals. Through the renewed alliance, SCHC and OSHA will continue to distribute information about the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.

SCHC, with input from OSHA, previously developed two GHS info sheets to provide resources on pictograms, flammability classifications and criteria for flammable liquids. SCHC representatives also will continue to serve on the editorial boards for OSHA’s Safety and Health Topics pages, including Hazard Communication and Making the Business Case for Safety and Health.

Nexreg Compliance is a proud member of the SCHC.

From ICIS news on potential US dust legislation and updates to MSDSs:

William Wright, interim head of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), told the House Education and Labor Committee that prompt regulatory action by Congress is necessary to “protect US jobs, businesses and communities that will otherwise be harmed or lost from deadly dust explosions”…

Wright also recommended to the committee that material safety data sheets (MSDS), documents that chemical manufacturers must provide to buyers detailing product hazards, should be updated to alert chemical and plastics users to the dangers posed by dust that may be inherent in or generated by use or processing of a substance.

Wright said that in the safety board’s 2006 study, it found that only half of some 140 MSDS documents examined contained any warning that the material could pose an explosive dust hazard, and only a handful of the safety data sheets referenced the relevant voluntary standards published by the National Fire Protection Association.

Nexreg provides MSDS authoring services - click on the following for more information:

• MSDS authoring (English)

To speak to a Nexreg representative about MSDS authoring, please call or e-mail Nexreg at:

Nexreg Toll Free: 1-866-361-3032
E-mail:info@nexreg.com

A small piece published on the New York Times website.  Useful for beginners in the US:

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that business owners maintain a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for every potentially hazardous material their employees come in contact with during the course of their daily business activities. These documents provide information such as melting and boiling points for hazardous materials, toxicity levels, possible health effects of exposure, first aid procedures, storage and disposal advice, and spill and leak procedures.

An MSDS protects both you and your employees and also keeps you in compliance with government regulations. You can be penalized for noncompliance.

Occupational Hazards discusses OSHA in 2007. Of parricular interest is the section on GHS:

Many experts are concerned OSHA’s current approach has prompted it to lag behind other countries in adopting new occupational safety and health policies and standards. A case in point is the adoption of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), introduced by the United Nations in 2003, with the hope of global adoption by 2008. Three countries – New Zealand, Bahrain and Mauritius—have already adopted GHS. Japan, Australia, and Brazil have started implementation activities and the EU is currently drafting GHS legislation.

“Here we [U.S.] are entering 2008 and we have seen nothing,” Trippler exclaims. “We have put out some little advanced notice for some comments on the hazcom [standard] dealing with GHS, and that’s it.”

For more on OSHA and GHS, please see the full article.

An article on Occupational Hazards disscusses OSHA and GHS. It says in part:

In the new agenda, OSHA said the agency would submit a complete peer review of economic analysis on OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard by November 2007, but evidently this action has been delayed. The issue of implementing a Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) has been of importance to both large global companies and to OSHA, as it admitted, “U.S. manufacturers, employers and employees will be at a disadvantage in the event that our system of hazard communication is not compliant with the GHS.”

Click on the above link for the full article.

Article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Made in China (buyer beware). Penalties for non-compliance might be increasing in the United States:

Last week alone the list included glassware from Pier 1, with 21 reports of cracked or broken glass; reclining chairs blamed in eight injuries; car tires blamed in two deaths; and fish and shrimp that the government says could cause cancer.

These products, and many more, have at least one thing in common: All were imported, and most were made in China.

Regulators say some cases involved outright fraud.

The dog food and toothpaste were adulterated with ingredients designed to fool any testers. Melamine in the dog food gave false high protein readings, and the toothpaste substituted a cheaper ingredient that is similar to brake fluid.

“I think it’s going to be a wake up call,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says of the lengthening list of recalls.

As for China, he says, it leads the world in food exports that are recalled.

“I don’t believe they are performing to acceptable 21st century standards for health and safety,” Durbin said. As chairman of a Senate appropriations subcommittee, Durbin is pushing regulatory agencies to ramp up fines for safety violations and add critically needed inspectors.

The full article here: Made in China (buyer beware).

An article in the American Laundry News about MSDSs and OSHA inspections:

Most of us will never have to deal with a random Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection. But if you do, it’s guaranteed to come at the worst possible time.

I recently took a Caribbean cruise vacation with my wife. My plant manager was off recovering from knee surgery, and a supervisor and several team leaders were left to supervise the healthcare laundry. It was then that OSHA decided to pay a surprise visit.

The inspector introduced herself and showed her identification. Our laundry’s name had come up on a randomly generated list, she said. She requested a tour and the following documentation for review: federal ID number; OSHA’s Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) for 2004, 2005 and 2006; “Lockout-Tagout” program; “Confined Space” program; “Exposure” program; “Safety Compliance” program; and our Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) book.

For the full article, see: Inspections Never Come at Good Time.

Nexreg Compliance authors fully compliant OSHA MSDSs. To learn more about our MSDS authoring services, see:

• MSDS Authoring (English)
• MSDS编写 (Chinese - Simplified)
• Création MSDS (French)
• 製品安全データシートの作成  (Japanese)
• MSDS 제작 (Korean)
• Creación de MSDS (Spanish)

To speak to a Nexreg representative about MSDS authoring, please call or e-mail Nexreg at:

Nexreg Canada: (519)488-5126 (London, ON)
Nexreg UK: +44 020 7993 5893 (London, UK)
Nexreg USA: (206)418-6663 (Seattle, WA)
E-mail:info@nexreg.com