Deadline looms for US federal and UN hazmat labelling rule

WASHINGTON (ICIS)–US chemicals manufacturers and related firms have just two weeks to comply with a federal and UN mandate for hazardous materials labelling, a law firm cautioned on Tuesday.

By 1 June, all US chemicals producers, formulators, blenders and related industry companies must be in compliance with a new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirement for hazard communication standards (HCS), according to Washington, DC-based law firm Bergeson & Campbell (B&C).

In a memo to clients, B&C noted that the long-delayed deadline was triggered  by a March 2012 OSHA rule that changed its hazard communication standards to conform with the UN’s Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, otherwise known as GHS.

“In the final rule, OSHA drastically modified the process by which hazards are classified and the elements required on material safety data sheets (MSDS),” the firm said. MSDS documents are now called safety data sheets (SDS).

Attorney Karin Baron pointed out that the 2012 OSHA rule change mandated that chemical company employees be updated on the new HCS requirements and meet a training deadline of 1 December 2013, but that the part of the rule dealing with labelling was put back to 1 June this year and might go unnoticed by some regulated firms.

Under the revised OSHA rule, a “chemical manufacturer” is not only chemical producers but any company that processes, formulates, blends, extracts, generates, emits or repackages chemicals, Baron noted.

The rule also covers importers of chemicals and requires all regulated firms “to classify the hazards of their chemicals and… provide hazardous chemical information to their employees”.

The one exception to the 1 June compliance deadline is chemicals distributors, who may continue to use the pre-existing SDS sheets and labels until 1 December this year.

Paul Hodges studies key influences shaping the chemical industry in Chemicals and the Economy