US chemical distributors in ‘panic and chaos’ over label deadline

WASHINGTON (ICIS)–A federal mandate for immediate changes in product labelling has triggered “panic and chaos” among US chemical distributors, industry officials said on Friday, and the government has been asked to delay its order for six months.

By 1 June – just over a week away – 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).  HCS covers product labelling and other documentation.

That deadline has been longstanding and was established by a March 2012 OSHA rule that altered the administration’s own hazard communication standards to conform to the UN’s “Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals”, otherwise known as GHS.

Technically, that March 2012 rule exempts chemical distributors from the 1 June compliance deadline, with OSHA saying they may continue to use pre-existing labels until 1 December this year.

However, in an urgent letter to OSHA, the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) asked for an “immediate, short-term administrative stay” of the overall mandate until 1 December this year because of some confusing regulatory language in the rule.

NACD president Eric Byer noted to OSHA assistant secretary David Michaels that while the OSHA rule does give distributors until 1 December to comply, the regulation simultaneously defines distributors as “producers” subject to the 1 June deadline.

Byer said that the rule defines “chemical manufacturer” as an employer with a workplace where chemicals are produced, manufactured, processed, formulated, blended, extracted, generated, emitted or repackaged for use or distribution – which includes activities performed by most distributors.

This definition, said Byer, “means that the majority of chemical distributors are regulated as manufacturers, and therefore cannot ship any stock after 1 June” and until actual chemicals manufacturers implement the new HCS labelling formats.

OSHA has yet to formally respond to the NACD request for a delay, and the 1 June deadline looms.

“The panic and chaos are already under way,” among distributors, said NACD vice president Jennifer Gibson.

“OSHA has assured us that they have heard NACD’s concerns and are working to address them,” she said, but in the meantime, distributors don’t know what to do.

Failure to comply with the HCS labelling mandate could trigger substantial OSHA fines.

“The problem is that we do not know when the administration will issue a document in writing, and the 1 June deadline is approaching quickly,” Gibson said.

Gibson, who manages regulatory affairs for NACD, said she does not think that “OSHA will immediately begin going out and issuing fines on this”, but without a formal statement from the administration, distributors don’t know for sure.

“Our members would really like some assurance of this in writing from OSHA,” Gibson said.

The approximately 450 member companies of NACD account for 85% of chemicals distribution in the US, according to the association.

OSHA was not available for an immediate comment on the NACD request.

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