['Hazard Communication']
['Safety Data Sheets', 'Hazard Classifications', 'Hazcom Labeling', 'Hazard Communication']
08/19/2024
Copyright 2024 J. J. Keller & Associate, Inc. For re-use options please contact copyright@jjkeller.com or call 800-558-5011.
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On construction jobsites workers can be exposed to chemicals that often pose a wide range of health hazards (such as irritation, sensitization, and carcinogenicity) and physical hazards (such as flammability, corrosion, and reactivity). 
OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) is designed to ensure that information about these hazards and associated protective measures is disseminated. This is accomplished by requiring chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and to provide information about them through labels on shipped containers and more detailed information sheets called safety data sheets (SDSs) — or for older chemical shipments, material safety data sheets (MSDS).
All employers with hazardous chemicals at their jobsites and workplaces must prepare and implement a written hazard communication program, and must ensure that all containers are labeled, employees are provided access to SDSs, and an effective training program is conducted for all potentially exposed employees.
Scope
OSHA’s HazCom standard applies to construction, general industry, shipyard, marine terminals, longshoring, and covers chemical manufacturers, importers, employers, and employees exposed to chemical hazards. Basically, any employer with one employee and one hazardous chemical is covered.
Depending on whether a business manufactures, distributes, sells, or simply uses chemicals, the requirements under the HazCom standard vary. Chemical manufacturers have the most stringent requirements in that they are responsible for classifying chemicals as to their hazards. However, employers who use hazardous chemicals have responsibilities to communicate information to employees about the hazards of the chemicals they work with.
Note: There are only two types of work operations where coverage of the rule is limited (but not totally eliminated). These are laboratories and operations where chemicals are only handled in sealed containers (e.g., a warehouse). Basically, employers having these types of work operations need only keep labels on containers as they are received, maintain safety data sheets that are received (and give employees access to them), and provide information and training for employees. These employers do not have to have written hazard communication programs and lists of chemicals for these types of operations.
Regulatory citations
- 29 CFR 1926.59 — Hazard communication and appendices. At 1926.59 OSHA states, “The requirements applicable to construction work under this section are identical to those set forth at 1910.1200.
[Note: OSHA made changes to 1910.1200 that take effect July 19, 2024.]
Key definitions
- Article: A manufactured item other than a fluid or particle: (i) which is formed to a specific shape or design during manufacture; (ii) which has end use function(s) dependent in whole or in part upon its shape or design during end use; and (iii) which under normal conditions of use does not release more than very small quantities, e.g., minute or trace amounts of a hazardous chemical (as determined under 1910.1200(d)), and does not pose a physical hazard or health risk to employees.
- Bulk shipment: Any hazardous chemical transported where the mode of transportation comprises the immediate container (i.e., contained in tanker truck, rail car, or intermodal container).
- Chemical: Any substance, or mixture of substances.
- Chemical manufacturer: An employer with a workplace where chemical(s) are produced for use or distribution.
- Chemical name: The scientific designation of a chemical in accordance with the nomenclature system developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) or the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) rules of nomenclature, or a name that will clearly identify the chemical for the purpose of conducting a hazard classification.
- Classification: To identify the relevant data regarding the hazards of a chemical; review those data to ascertain the hazards associated with the chemical; and decide whether the chemical will be classified as hazardous according to the definition of hazardous chemical in 1910.1200. In addition, classification for health and physical hazards includes the determination of the degree of hazard, where appropriate, by comparing the data with the criteria for health and physical hazards.
- Combustible dust: Finely divided solid particulates of a substance or mixture that pose a flash-fire hazard or explosion hazard when dispersed in air or other oxidizing media.
- Commercial account: An arrangement whereby a retail distributor sells hazardous chemicals to an employer, generally in large quantities over time and/or at costs that are below the regular retail price.
- Common name: Any designation or identification such as code name, code number, trade name, brand name or generic name used to identify a chemical other than by its chemical name.
- Container: Any bag, barrel, bottle, box, can, cylinder, drum, reaction vessel, storage tank, or the like that contains a hazardous chemical. For purposes of 1910.1200, pipes or piping systems, and engines, fuel tanks, or other operating systems in a vehicle, are not considered to be containers.
- Distributor: A business, other than a chemical manufacturer or importer, which supplies hazardous chemicals to other distributors or to employers.
- Employee: A worker who may be exposed to hazardous chemicals under normal operating conditions or in foreseeable emergencies. Workers such as office workers or bank tellers who encounter hazardous chemicals only in non-routine, isolated instances are not covered.
- Employer: A person engaged in a business where chemicals are either used, distributed, or are produced for use or distribution, including a contractor or subcontractor.
- Exposure or exposed: An employee is subjected in the course of employment to a hazardous chemical, and includes potential (e.g. accidental or possible) exposure. “Subjected” in terms of health hazards includes any route of entry ( e.g. inhalation, ingestion, skin contact or absorption.)
- Foreseeable emergency: Any potential occurrence such as, but not limited to, equipment failure, rupture of containers, or failure of control equipment which could result in an uncontrolled release of a hazardous chemical into the workplace.
- Gas: A substance which (i) At 122°F (50°C) has a vapor pressure greater than 43.51 PSI (300 kPa) (absolute); or (ii) Is completely gaseous at 68°F (20°C) at a standard pressure of 14.69 PSI (101.3 kPa).
- Hazard category: The division of criteria within each hazard class, e.g., oral acute toxicity and flammable liquids include four hazard categories. These categories compare hazard severity within a hazard class and should not be taken as a comparison of hazard categories more generally.
- Hazard class: The nature of the physical or health hazards, e.g., flammable solid, carcinogen, oral acute toxicity.
- Hazard not otherwise classified (HNOC): An adverse physical or health effect identified through evaluation of scientific evidence during the classification process that does not meet the specified criteria for the physical and health hazard classes addressed in 1910.1200. This does not extend coverage to adverse physical and health effects for which there is a hazard class addressed in 1910.1200, but the effect either falls below the cut-off value/concentration limit of the hazard class or is under a GHS hazard category that has not been adopted by OSHA (e.g., acute toxicity Category 5).
- Hazard statement: A statement assigned to a hazard class and category that describes the nature of the hazard(s) of a chemical, including, where appropriate, the degree of hazard.
- Hazardous chemical: Any chemical which is classified as a physical hazard or a health hazard, a simple asphyxiant, combustible dust, or hazard not otherwise classified.
- Health hazard: A chemical which is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: acute toxicity (any route of exposure); skin corrosion or irritation; serious eye damage or eye irritation; respiratory or skin sensitization; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproductive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure); or aspiration hazard. The criteria for determining whether a chemical is classified as a health hazard are detailed in Appendix A to 1910.1200 — Health Hazard Criteria.
- Immediate outer package: The first package enclosing the container of hazardous chemical.
- Immediate use: The hazardous chemical will be under the control of and used only by the person who transfers it from a labeled container and only within the work shift in which it is transferred.
- Importer: The first business with employees within the Customs Territory of the United States which receives hazardous chemicals produced in other countries for the purpose of supplying them to distributors or employers within the United States.
- Label: An appropriate group of written, printed or graphic information elements concerning a hazardous chemical that is affixed to, printed on, or attached to the immediate container of a hazardous chemical, or to the outside packaging.
- Label elements: The specified pictogram, hazard statement, signal word, and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category.
- Liquid: A substance or mixture which at 122°F (50°C) has a vapor pressure of not more than 43.51 PSI (300 kPa (3 bar)), which is not completely gaseous at 68°F (20°C) and at a standard pressure of 101.3 kPa, and which has a melting point or initial melting point of 68°F (20°C) or less at a standard pressure of 14.69 PSI (101.3 kPa). Either ASTM D4359–90 (R2019) (incorporated by reference, see §1910.6); or the test for determining fluidity (penetrometer test) prescribed in section 2.3.4 of ADR 2019 (incorporated by reference, see §1910.6) can establish whether a viscous substance or mixture is a liquid if a specific melting point cannot be determined.
- Mixture: A combination or a solution composed of two or more substances in which they do not react.
- Physical hazard: A chemical that is classified as posing one of the following hazardous effects: explosive; flammable (gases, liquids, or solids); aerosols; oxidizer (gases, liquids, or solids); self-reactive; pyrophoric (liquids or solids); self-heating; organic peroxide; corrosive to metal; gas under pressure; in contact with water emits flammable gas; or desensitized explosive. See Appendix B to 1910.1200 — Physical Hazard Criteria.
- Pictogram: A composition that may include a symbol plus other graphic elements, such as a border, background pattern, or color, that is intended to convey specific information about the hazards of a chemical. Eight pictograms are designated under this standard for application to a hazard category.
- Precautionary statement: A phrase that describes recommended measures that should be taken to minimize or prevent adverse effects resulting from exposure to a hazardous chemical, or improper storage or handling.
- Produce: To manufacture, process, formulate, blend, extract, generate, emit, or repackage.
- Product identifier: The name or number used for a hazardous chemical on a label or in the SDS. It provides a unique means by which the user can identify the chemical. The product identifier used shall permit cross-references to be made among the list of hazardous chemicals required in the written hazard communication program, the label and the SDS.
- Released for shipment: A chemical that has been packaged and labeled in the manner in which it will be distributed or sold.
- Responsible party: Someone who can provide additional information on the hazardous chemical and appropriate emergency procedures, if necessary.
- Safety data sheet (SDS): Written or printed material concerning a hazardous chemical that is prepared in accordance with 1910.1200(g).
- Signal word: A word used to indicate the relative level of severity of hazard and alert the reader to a potential hazard on the label. The signal words used in 1910.1200 are “danger” and “warning.” “Danger” is used for the more severe hazards, while “warning” is used for the less severe.
- Simple asphyxiant: A substance or mixture that displaces oxygen in the ambient atmosphere, and can thus cause oxygen deprivation in those who are exposed, leading to unconsciousness and death.
- Solid: A substance or mixture which does not meet the definitions of liquid or gas.
- Specific chemical identity: The chemical name, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number, or any other information that reveals the precise chemical designation of the substance.
- Substance: Chemical elements and their compounds in the natural state or obtained by any production process, including any additive necessary to preserve the stability of the product and any impurities deriving from the process used, but excluding any solvent which may be separated without affecting the stability of the substance or changing its composition.
- Trade secret: Any confidential formula, pattern, process, device, information or compilation of information that is used in an employer’s business, and that gives the employer an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. Appendix E to 1910.1200 — Definition of Trade Secret, sets out the criteria to be used in evaluating trade secrets.
- Use: To package, handle, react, emit, extract, generate as a byproduct, or transfer.
- Work area: A room or defined space in a workplace where hazardous chemicals are produced or used, and where employees are present.
- Workplace: An establishment, job site, or project, at one geographical location containing one or more work areas.
Summary of requirements
The HazCom standard requires that employers who have employees exposed to hazardous chemicals:
- Identify and list hazardous chemicals in their workplaces, e.g., create and maintain a “chemical inventory.”
- Obtain Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) and labels for each hazardous chemical, if not provided by the manufacturer, importer, or distributor.
- Implement a written HazCom program, including provisions for proper container labeling, SDSs, and employee training.
- Communicate hazard information to employees through proper labels, SDSs, and formal training programs.
Manufacturers and distributors of hazardous chemicals have additional responsibilities, including evaluating and classifying chemicals as to their hazards, creating SDSs, and labeling shipped containers with detailed information as described in the standard.
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['Hazard Communication']
['Safety Data Sheets', 'Hazard Classifications', 'Hazcom Labeling', 'Hazard Communication']
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Copyright 2024 J. J. Keller & Associate, Inc. For re-use options please contact copyright@jjkeller.com or call 800-558-5011.