OSHA Rule Corrects Minor Errors in HazCom Standard
A new final rule from OSHA dated Oct. 9 corrects minor errors in the agency’s hazard communication standard. According to OSHA, because the errors were mostly typographical in nature and correcting them does not impose new or different obligations on the regulated community, the agency can update the standard without initiating normal rulemaking procedures such as public notice and comment periods.
The errors in the standard include incorrect references to certain paragraphs. The new rule explains that OSHA has rearranged and renumbered the affected text so that the standard accurately reflects the agency’s intent. In addition, a phrase that referred to the “transmission of labels by electronic or other technological means” was inadvertently incorporated into the standard. The agency’s new rule removes this phrase.
Other errors occurred in the standard’s appendices. A table in appendix B was mislabeled, and in appendix C, OSHA inadvertently inserted hazard statements for aerosols instead of hazard statements for chemicals under pressure.
All changes are summarized in a table that is included in the new rule. For more information, refer to the rule in the Federal Register. More information about the OSHA hazcom standard is available from the agency’s website.
OSHA’s update of the hazcom standard, which went into effect July 19, aligned it with the seventh revision of the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The rule was intended, in part, to improve the quality of information on chemical labels and safety data sheets so that workers and first responders could act more quickly in emergencies.