HAZCOM and HAZWOPER

HAZCOM and HAZWOPER

Beginning June 1, 2015 OSHA requires chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors and employers to provide a common approach to classifying chemicals and effectively communicating this information via labels and Safety Data Sheets. These impacted parties must provided a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category. The June 1 deadline is part of the overall OSHA Hazard Communication (HAZCOM) Standard that was revised in 2012. The effort by OSHA is to achieve a global standard for chemical product labeling.

Starting in December 2015, distributors can only ship containers by the chemical manufacturer or importer if labels meet these new requirements. While HAZWOPER courses include topics on HAZCOM, the HAZCOM course itself must be taken to comply with the OSHA regulations. Simply taking the HAZWOPER course alone does not ensure compliance with the OSHA HAZCOM regulation. OSHA has data indicating that HAZCOM non-compliance is the number 1 most frequently cited violation.