Main: OSHA hazcom standard compatible with MSHA requirements

Arlington, VA – Employers in the mining industry that follow OSHA’s newly revised Hazard Communication Standard will be in compliance with the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s hazcom standard, MSHA clarified in an Aug. 13 policy letter.

“This compatibility is win-win,” MSHA administrator Joseph A. Main said in a press release. “It reduces the burden of maintaining two separate systems for identifying hazardous chemicals and communication of hazards while providing at least the same protections to miners as MSHA’s existing hazcom standard.”

Despite the hazcom compatibility, MSHA warned that some aspects of OSHA’s hazard classification may not be compatible with existing MSHA standards. For example, mine operators must comply with MSHA standards concerning storage requirements for hazardous chemicals, according to the press release.

OSHA issued a final rule revising its hazcom standard in March 2012, aligning it with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.