The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has

renewed an alliance with the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication in an effort to reduce

and prevent worker exposure to chemical hazards. Additionally, the alliance was formed and

renewed to increase awareness of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and

Labeling of Chemicals requirements.

“American workers use thousands of chemicals every day, and every year tens of thousands of

workers are made sick or die from occupational exposures to hazardous chemicals,” said

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Our

renewed partnership with SCHC will extend our efforts toward ensuring healthier workers and

safer workplaces.”

The renewal of this alliance shows OSHA is focused on protecting the rights and health of

employees who work with dangerous chemicals. So if you are required to have chemical hazard

standards at your workplace, it is time to ensure they are all accurate and up-to-code. If not, you

could find yourself exposed to potential fines if you are audited.

If you are concerned about your chemical hazard standards, it might be a good idea to review

your standards with a third party occupational safety and health auditing firm. A third party firm

can do a complete wall to wall audit of the facility, and help you uncover any potential issues, in

addition to the chemical hazard deficiencies.

If you have any questions about this alliance and how it might impact you, or any questions

about a third party audit, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the importance of

third party audits, please leave a comment.