Now is the time to make a change involving your companies 29 CFR 1910.1200 Hazard Communication Standard of managing your Material Safety Data Sheet. If your company strategically determines that an electronic web-based system will be available to all of your employees the total integration of your company’s safety and health program will be ready to address the Global Harmonized System (GHS) for Safety Data Sheets (SDS’s). See the following PDF file for a presentation from OSHA discussing the new GHS system and how it will impact you.

As many safety professionals know, the OSHA permissible exposure limits (PELs) cover approximately 500 chemicals. However, most of these 500+ PELs are based on toxicological data from 1968. Alternatively, ACGIH has about 600 TLV standards that are updated annually, but the ACGIH standards are not mandatory. Given this situation, are the OSHA and ACGIH limits truly protecting U.S. workers? Further complicating this is that thousands of chemicals are used in workplaces for which the United States has no standards. Are there other sources of occupational exposure limits that safety and health professionals can access to insure adequate protection of their workers?

Over 35 countries worldwide regulate over 3,500 occupational chemicals. Most of them are updated with the latest toxicological data every 2 to 3 years. How might this affect the safety professional in the United States? How might it affect U.S. manufacturing facilities overseas? Exposure standards that are promulgated globally can include no effect levels, 8-hour exposure standards, 15-minute exposure standards, ceiling limits, or levels that are immediately dangerous to life and health.

Certified Environmental Management, Ltd. can provide a summary of this body of knowledge by listing the lowest standard, the mean standard, and the highest standard for chemicals in each classification. Significant legal liability questions are starting to be raised for CIHs and CSPs who are unaware of these global regulatory standards for chemicals that are unregulated in the United States. This is occurring in both the United States and in corporate manufacturing facilities around the world. The Code of Ethics for CIHs and CSPs requires professionals to be updated on current information. Questions regarding both legal and ethical practice implications of this information will be included.