OSHA, Canada agree to align hazcom standards

Washington – OSHA and the Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch of the Canadian Department of Health have signed an agreement to collaboratively implement the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals in their respective jurisdictions.

Signed June 19 in Washington, the agreement also states that both agencies will collaborate on future GHS developments and form a working group to create common positions for proposed updates to the United Nations’ GHS system, according to an OSHA press release.

Present at the ceremony were OSHA administrator David Michaels and Suzy McDonald, director general for HECS’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Directorate.

Last year, OSHA published a final rule on its Hazard Communication Standard, aligning it with GHS. Employers must comply with the first aspect of the rule – training employees on new label elements and Safety Data Sheets – by Dec. 1.