With two deadlines under our belt and two more to come, we are now more than halfway through OSHA’s adoption of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Let’s discuss five questions we’re hearing from the thousands of safety professionals we work with around the GHS implementation process, along with information to help clear up any confusion during this transition.
One of the biggest sources of confusion these days about GHS-formatted safety data sheets (SDS) and labels is determining what chemicals fall under the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). HazCom (and by extension GHS) only applies to hazardous chemicals, so if your product isn’t hazardous, it doesn’t require an SDS or label in the GHS format.