OSHA’s Hazard Communication Deadline Arrives for Employers on November 20

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Employers that use hazardous chemicals face a November 20, 2026 deadline to update, as necessary, their workplace labeling, written hazard communication programs, and employee training for the chemical substances they handle.  The obligation flows from OSHA’s 2024 revision of the Hazard Communication Standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200, and the compliance phase for substances is now underway.

Note that hazardous chemicals are components of many products used in commercial and industrial operations, such as cleaning and degreasing solvents, paints and coatings, adhesives, fuels and lubricants, and pool or water-treatment products.  Under the standard, a “substance,” defined at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200(c), is a chemical element or compound—including any stabilizing additives and process impurities, but not separable solvents—while a “mixture” is a combination or solution of two or more substances that do not react.  Many familiar commercial products are mixtures rather than single substances, which matters here because the standard’s compliance dates arrive earlier for substances than for mixtures.

What Happened

As discussed in a previous post, in May 2024, OSHA published a final rule revising the Hazard Communication Standard to align it primarily with Revision 7 of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).  The rule also incorporated select elements of Revision 8.  In the final rule, OSHA set the following compliance dates:

  • For substances, chemical manufacturers, importers, and distributors were to comply by January 19, 2026, and employers by July 20, 2026.
  • For mixtures, manufacturers, importers, and distributors were to comply by July 19, 2027, and employers by January 19, 2028.

In January 2026, OSHA extended each of those compliance dates by four months.  The agency issued the extension as a final rule without notice and comment.  The Federal Register notice explained that the agency needed additional time to publish implementation guidance for the regulated community and its own personnel.  The extension left the standard’s transition provision intact, which allows covered entities to implement the 2012 standard, the 2024 standard, or a combination of the two, until the applicable date arrives.

Under the revised schedule, the deadline for manufacturers, importers, and distributors to bring labels and SDSs for substances into compliance has already passed—the deadline was May 19, 2026.  The corresponding employer deadline for substances is November 20, 2026.  For mixtures, the manufacturer deadline is November 19, 2027, and the employer deadline is May 19, 2028.

Why It Matters and Who Is Affected

Because the May 2026 date has passed, updated SDSs for substances should now be available.  Under the standard, chemical manufacturers and importers must provide an updated SDS with the first shipment after it is revised, and an employer that receives a shipment without one must obtain it from the manufacturer or importer as soon as possible, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200(g)(6).  Employers must, in turn, update their own workplace labels, written hazard communication programs, and training to reflect that information ahead of November 20.

The practical burden falls most heavily on downstream employers with large or varied chemical inventories and dispersed workforces, including manufacturers and firms in construction, oil and gas, warehousing, agriculture, and healthcare.  Hazard communication consistently ranks among OSHA’s most frequently cited standards, which raises the stakes for programs left unrevised.

What To Watch

OSHA tied the extension to implementation guidance it was still developing, and the content and timing of that guidance will shape how the revised classification and labeling requirements are applied.  Separately, the rule’s approach to hazard classification, including its treatment of reasonably anticipated uses, has drawn criticism from industry-side practitioners and rulemaking commenters.  Both bear on how the standard will operate in practice.

Canada begins phase-in of GHS with Hazardous Products Regulation.

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Earlier this month, Canada published final regulations implementing the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. The Hazardous Products Regulation (HPR) aligns closely with the United States’ Hazard Communication Standard and the United Nations’ fifth revision of the GHS. The HPR harmonizes criteria for hazard classification, labels, and safety data sheets, but will not otherwise change the roles and responsibilities for suppliers, employers and workers. A goal of GHS is to allow chemical suppliers to use “a single label and SDS for each hazardous product.”

Adoption of the HPR marks the beginning of Canada’s three-phase transition to GHS, similar to the U.S. approach to implementing GHS. Canada’s transition is scheduled to be completed by December 1, 2018.

OSHA to Adopt Final GHS Rule by August 2011

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Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS):

On December 20, 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its Fall 2010 Unified Agenda.  75 Fed. Reg. 79604.  The Agenda sets August 2011 as the date for publishing a final rule that will modify the current hazard communication standard (HCS) at 29 CFR 1910.1200 to incorporate elements of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).  Readers will recall that GHS is a system the United Nations (UN) developed for standardizing and harmonizing the classification and labeling of chemicals to help ensure their safe use, transport and disposal.  Publication of the final rule is the culmination of a five-year process that has left the United States behind many countries in its implementation of GHS.

The UN first published the GHS in 2003 in response to the diverse and sometimes inconsistent hazard classification and communication systems in use around the world.  Governments, industry, and labor, working through the UN, hoped that a harmonized system would increase safety and reduce the regulatory burden associated with the global trade in chemicals.  Under the GHS, labels would include signal words, pictograms, and hazard and precautionary statements and safety data sheets would have a standardized format.

When the GHS system was first adopted, the goal was implementation in each country by 2008.  However, that has not happened.  Some countries met the deadline while others did not.  Japan required compliance in 2006, and New Zealand and Korea required at least partial compliance in 2008.   The European Union’s GHS regulation entered into force in January 2009.   (Information on other countries’ adoption is available here.)

Adoption in the US has been slower, possibly because several agencies are involved, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Department of Transportation (DOT).  Each agency is evaluating its existing regulations and guidance, and making the necessary changes.  OSHA’s adoption of GHS has been particularly slow.  The Agency first published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in September 2006, 71 Fed. Reg. 53617, and then waited almost three years before proposing a rule, 74 FR 50279, and finally initiated several public hearings thereafter.   Some question whether US industry, particularly smaller businesses, have been hurt by the delay since smaller companies sometimes cannot afford to comply with multiple countries’ hazard communication systems and therefore avoid significant international trade.

Multiple aspects of OSHA’s current HCS will be affected by the impending rule.  According to OSHA’s website, the following major areas are subject to significant changes.

  • Hazard classification: Specific criteria for classification of health and physical hazards, as well as classification of mixtures will be adopted.
  • Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers will be required to provide a label that includes a harmonized signal word, pictogram, and hazard statement for each hazard class and category. Precautionary statements must also be provided.
  • Safety Data Sheets: A prescribed 16-section format will be required for all safety data sheets.
  • Information and training: The GHS does not address training. However, the proposed rule will require workers to be trained on GHS within two years of the publication of the final rule to facilitate recognition and understanding of the new labels and safety data sheets.

Additional details about the proposed changes are available in the Federal Register notices cited above.  For those interested in learning more, OSHA has published a lengthy comparison of the GHS and HCS, and a comprehensive discussion of the GHS also is avaialble on OSHA’s website.

Consultation Periods Open on Proposals to Harmonize Classification and Labeling of Four Substances under the EU's CLP Regulation

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EU CLP Regulation:

Public consultation periods have opened on propoosals to harmonize the classification and labeling of four substances under the EU Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (the so-called “CLP Regulation,” (EC) No 1272/2008). The CLP Regulation implements the UN’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (“GHS“). The substances are:  2-Ethoxyethanol (CAS No. 203-804-4); Reaction mass of 2,4,4-Trimethylpent-1-ene and 2,4,4-Trimethylpent-2-ene (CAS No. 246-690-9); Vinyl acetate (CAS No. 203.545-4); and Indoxacarb and Indoxacarb (enantiomeric reaction mass S:R 75:25 (Indoxocarb CAS No. 173584-44-6).   Copies of the proposals, and other details such as the deadlines for submitting comments, are available on the website of the European Chemicals Agency (“ECHA”).

If a proposal is accepted, the substance would be added to the list of harmonised classifications in Annex VI, part 3 of the CLP Regulation.  Thereafter, all manufacturers, importers and users of the substance in the EU would need to abide by the new harmonised classification and labelling.  Persons potentially affected may be interested in submitting comments.

Background on CLP Regulation and Harmonization

The so-called CLP Regulation entered into force on January 20, 2009.   The regulation will gradually replace the Dangerous Substances Directive (67/548/EEC) and Dangerous Preparations Directive (1999/45/EC).  Both directives will be repealed by June 1, 2015. 

Under the Regulation, individual EU Member States (“Competent Authorities” or “CAs”) and industry may propose harmonization of the classification and labelling of substances.  The decision on a particular classification for a substance or mixture is usually made by the supplier (“self-classification”).  However, in certain cases the decision on the classification of a substance is made at the Community level, which is then called “harmonized classification.”  A harmonized classification must be applied by default by the suppliers of the respective substance.

Hamonized classification and labeling may be approved:

  • when the substance is either:

    • carcinogenic;

    • mutagenic;

    • toxic for reproduction; and/or

    • a respiratory sensitiser;

  • when the substance is an active substance in a biocidal or plant protection products; or

  • when there is a need to harmonize a classification at EU level, as supported by a justification demonstrating the need for such action.

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Check back periodically for future postings on CLP developments.