An Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) rule that updates the current Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) became effective July 19, 2024.  While the changes primarily address requirements that apply to chemical manufacturers and importers, they will affect employers responsibilities, as well.  There is ample time for employers to prepare, as the deadline for compliance doesn’t arrive until 2026.

The underlying purpose of the HCS is for information about the identities and hazards of chemicals used in a given workplace to available and understandable to workers in order to ensure safety.  These requirements apply to all industries where workers are exposed to hazardous chemicals, including aging services.

The HCS requires chemical manufacturers or importers to classify the hazards of chemicals they produce or import. In order to ensure that the information is transmitted, the Standard also requires employers to provide information to their employees about the hazardous chemicals to which they are exposed, by means of a hazard communication program, labels and other forms of warning, safety data sheets (SDSs), and information and training. The changes in this final rule do not change the scope or framework of the HCS.

Beginning in 2012, OSHA has conformed this regulatory standard with the “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals” (GHS), which includes criteria for the classification of health, physical and environmental hazards, as well as specifying what information should be included on labels of hazardous chemicals as well as safety data sheets. The GHS is updated every two years, and with this updated rule, OSHA is seeking to conform its HCS to the 2017 revision of the GHS.

The revised standard addresses and revises expectations of chemical manufacturers, importers and distributors in various ways, including labeling (with new flexibility for small container labeling), and hazard classification. Concerning classification, the revised standard includes language that manufacturers, importers or distributors will include additional hazards associated with possible reactions between chemicals that may occur as a result of how an individual chemical is known to be used or how a manufacturer may reasonably anticipate the chemical to be used.

Core requirements that employers are expected to meet have not changed, such as to have a written hazard communication program, provide employees with information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work areas, and maintain Safety Data Sheets for each chemical in use.

However, it is important for employers to be aware of this new standard, as changes occur upstream. As a manufacturer reviews the classification of a given product and implements the content of the safety data sheet for that product, employers will need to incorporate those updated safety data sheets into their hazard communications programs and training, as applicable.

While the updated standard became effective July 19, OSHA has established compliance dates that begin many months from now.  For chemical manufactures, importers and distributors, updates to labels and Safety Data Sheets for substances will be required by January 2026, and for employers—if updates to the hazard communication program or employee training is needed, for example, compliance will be required by July 2026.

OSHA’s basic intent for this updated standard is to better protect workers by improving the amount and quality of information on labels and safety data sheets and allow employers, employees and first responders to react more quickly if there is an emergency.

If your state is a “State Plan State” – meaning that your State implements its own OSHA-approved workplace safety and health programs – then check with your State’s occupational safety and health agency for additional information.  State Plans that have their own hazard communication standards must adopt provisions that are at least as effective as the final rule.

An Overview of the Hazard Communication Standard is available here. Details concerning the newly-updated Standard, including a side-by-side that highlights changes to the regulatory language, are available here.

LeadingAge will continue to monitor developments relating to the HCS as the compliance and implementation dates arrive in 2026 and beyond.