ILMA Compoundings – December 2018 - 22

COUNSEL COMPOUND

OSHA HCS: Changes
are Coming
By Jeff Leiter

I

LMA is gearing up for a proposed
rule expected to be proposed by
OSHA in March 2019 as an "Update
to the Hazard Communication Standard" (HCS). OSHA last amended its
HCS in March 2012 to harmonize the
HCS with the Globally Harmonized
System of Classification and Labeling
of Chemicals (GHS). At that time,
OSHA said in the preamble to the
final rule that the lubricants industry
would be responsible for 40 percent of
the safety data sheets (SDS) that had
to be updated and some 25 percent of
the compliance costs. Full compliance
with the 2012 HCS amendments was
required by June 1, 2016.
Why, under the deregulatory Trump
administration, is OSHA looking to
further amend the HCS? The U.S., led
by OSHA, participates in the United
Nations (U.N.) group that negotiates
the globally harmonized approach
to classifying chemical hazards and
providing labels and SDS for hazardous
chemicals. The work of this international group is known as the "Purple
Book." The Purple Book is a living document, and it has been updated every
two years since the amended HCS was
promulgated in 2012. HCS 2012 was
based on the third edition of the Purple
Book, and the U.N. recently published
its seventh version. OSHA, thus,
intends its rulemaking next year to
harmonize the HCS with this seventh
edition of the Purple Book (including
Revisions 4 through 6), as well as
to codify a number of enforcement
policies that the agency has issued since
2012. Any changes proposed to the
HCS next year likely would be finalized
by OSHA after the U.N. issues version
8 of the Purple Book.

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DECEMBER 2018

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OSHA, in meetings with stakeholders, has said that in order to maintain
alignment with GHS, it expects that
its proposed rule would include the
following updates: Appendix A (health
hazards), mostly editorial; Appendix B
(physical hazards), including flammable gases, desensitized explosives, and
aerosols; Appendix C (label elements),
including new or updated hazards,
updated guidance, and precautionary
statements; and Appendix D (SDS),
including updates to SDS Sections
2, 5, 7 and 9. This list is only a small
portion of all of the amendments that
have been made to the Purple Book

since 2012. It is reasonable to expect
that OSHA will propose a much more
robust set of edits to its HCS.
Based on Dr. John Howell's presentation at the ILMA Annual Meeting
in October, one change made in every
update of the Purple Book is further
precautionary statement revisions.
If OSHA conforms the HCS with
Revision 7 of the Purple Book, it likely
means significant changes for Appendix
C: Allocation of Label Elements and
Appendix D: SDS. Based on ILMA
members' compliance activities on
HCS 2012, it means that such changes
in product labeling and SDS authoring,
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ILMA Compoundings – December 2018

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