OSHA Announces Final HazCom 2012 Rule and Compliance Dates

On a teleconference call, OSHA announced the revision to the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) as well as related compliance deadlines affecting chemical manufacturers, distributors and employers. According to OSHA the Final Rule will be filed on March 20th at the Office of the Federal Register and available for viewing on their Public Electronic Inspection Desk. The Federal Register will publish the final rule on March 26, 2012. The effective date of the final rule is 60 days after the date of publication.”

The revised HCS, which OSHA is calling HazCom 2012, is expected to affect every U.S. workplace with exposure to hazardous chemicals, and is estimated to cover over 5 million facilities and over 40 million workers. The first compliance date employers should be aware of is December 1, 2013, which is the date by which employees must be trained on the new label and SDS formats. OSHA is now calling this standard the “Right to Understand” updating the “Right to Know” concept behind the former HCS.

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