The HCS covers some 650,000 hazardous chemical products found in over three million establishments.

Since the HCS was adopted 20 years ago, the availability of chemical information in workplaces has increased dramatically, and the provision of labels and MSDSs with products has become a standard business practice. Surveys have shown that employers rely on MSDSs to select less hazardous substitutes, as well as to help them identify appropriate protective measures. In addition to these workplace uses of hazard information, MSDSs have evolved into sources of information on other aspects of chemical use.

While the standard’s successes are evident, there are concerns regarding the quality of information disseminated under the HCS, in particular, whether the information is consistently accurate on MSDSs.

The HCS offers substantive guidance to assist employers in evaluating hazards; provide worker training; and prepare MSDSs. It requires chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce and distribute. All employers with exposed employees are required to provide access to the labels and MSDSs, and to train workers.

Important aspects of the HCS and its implementation include the following:
• It is generic and performance-oriented — all chemicals are covered;
• It is criteria-based, not limiting coverage to a list that can become outdated;
• It incorporates a downstream flow of information from producers to users;
• Trade secrets have been addressed to ensure protection of legitimate claims while requiring disclosure where necessary for health and safety;
• It has an impact on interstate commerce and international trade;
• It interfaces with other Federal requirements for classification and labeling;
• It is designed in part on communication theory in addition to technical data, and the concept of modifying behavior through transmittal of key information.

 The HCS requirements are as important to the 21st century workplace as they were 20 years ago. Chemical information is the foundation of workplace chemical safety programs — without it, sound management of chemicals cannot occur. While the rule has been amended since 1983 to broaden the coverage to include all workers exposed to chemicals, as well as evolved to reflect new technology in information dissemination and other developments, the basic approach is still sound.

The standard addresses accuracy in the requirements for MSDSs, as well as requiring MSDSs to be updated when there is new and significant information regarding the hazards or ways to protect against the hazards. The following provision is found at 29 CFR 1910.1200 (g)(5):

The chemical manufacturer, importer, or employer preparing the material safety data sheet shall ensure that the information recorded accurately reflects the scientific evidence used in making the hazard determination. If the chemical manufacturer, importer or employer preparing the material safety data sheet becomes newly aware of any significant information regarding the hazards of a chemical, or ways to protect against the hazards, this new information shall be added to the material safety data sheet within three months.

MSDSs are reference documents. They are basically a one-stop shopping source for everything you might need or want to know about a chemical. As such, they must be useful to the safety and health professionals deciding what controls to use, the first aid or medical treatment to provide, and the precautionary measures to follow.

While available to them, much of the information present on the MSDS is not primarily written for workers but for other audiences. Because the audience is generally safety and health professionals, the information on MSDSs is usually technical. Such MSDS users need to have the specific data on the hazards of a chemical in order to use it for their purposes.

For example, while a worker may need to know that a chemical is acutely toxic, the health professional may also want to know the basis for that classification, i.e., information on the dose at which the chemical can cause a fatality.

Training of workers is essential to ensure that they understand the information provided, where they can get more information, and how they can use the information to protect themselves. Since labels and MSDSs are based on hazard information, training is also the means an employer can use to address risk related to the workplace situation involved.

These three aspects work together to provide a complete approach to hazard communication, ensuring that the information is provided in different ways to reinforce and explain it to those exposed. This comprehensive approach to hazard communication was based in part on information about communication theory that was identified during the rulemaking.

For example, the more information that appears on a label, the less likely it is that someone will read it and use it. Therefore, the label requirements were kept to a brief minimum to enhance their utility and additional information was provided for reference on MSDSs.

As has already been described, MSDSs are one part of the approach to hazard communication and are not a stand-alone communication mechanism for workers. Since the focus recently has been on MSDSs, it appears useful to review them in somewhat more detail.

Rudimentary forms of MSDSs on chemicals have been available since the 19th century, and some trace their history back to hieroglyphics on the inside of Egyptian pyramids about the effects of various chemicals. The modern MSDS started becoming available from the chemical industry in the 1940’s and 1950’s, with the first regulatory requirements adopted by the former Bureau of Labor Standards for the maritime industry before the OSH Act was adopted.

The MSDSs available at the time the HCS was adopted followed various formats. Those chemical manufacturers who already provided MSDSs were most concerned during the rulemaking that they not be required to change what they were already doing voluntarily in terms of a format.

OSHA thus adopted a performance-oriented requirement that allowed any format to be used as long as all of the information required appeared on the form. But the HCS also required more extensive information be provided than had been previously, particularly on health effects. The two-page format that was common in the past is rarely used now, with most MSDSs being a minimum of four pages and many exceeding that number.

Today’s 21st century MSDSs are an accepted business practice for the chemical industry, and are featured in their Responsible Care programs. They are used worldwide to transmit detailed information about a chemical, how it should be used, its effects, how to protect against those effects, what regulations apply to the chemical, and other information.

Most employers have requirements for MSDSs for everything they purchase, including products that are not hazardous under the HCS. Many employers routinely review MSDSs before they purchase a chemical, and compare it to acceptable alternatives in order to ensure the least hazardous material is used.

This is one of the most important uses of such information since it prevents exposure from ever happening when properly employed. They are also widely used to determine what protective measures should be implemented, such as what respirator to select to protect exposed employees or what type of glove material is required to prevent skin exposure.

The utility of MSDSs has been demonstrated repeatedly. However, a number of studies and investigations have raised the concern that some MSDSs may be incomplete or contain erroneous or out-of-date information. While this information indicates there are inaccurate MSDSs in circulation, there has never been a comprehensive study on this topic that provides more than anecdotal evidence about a limited number of MSDSs.

This is not surprising since a study of that magnitude would be far-reaching, costly, and time-consuming. However, lacking such a study, it is difficult to determine how widespread the problem is today. The studies described are quite old in some cases. In others, the authors have made assumptions about what they consider to be compliance with the standard that may not be consistent with the standard’s requirements.

For example, in a study regarding MSDSs on toluene diisocyanate, the authors assumed the MSDS was inaccurate if it did not explicitly refer to occupational asthma but discussed respiratory sensitization. Since respiratory sensitization is the health hazard defined in the HCS, either term would be accepted as compliance for OSHA.

The role of product liability laws in the United States should also be mentioned with regard to the accuracy of MSDSs and labels. Producers of chemicals may be subject to “failure to warn” suits that can have significant financial implications. These US legal requirements affect the length and complexity of MSDSs, as well as the way in which information is presented.

In addition to the issue regarding accuracy, there have been concerns that the MSDSs are not comprehensible to employees. This criticism results in part from the fact that MSDSs are written for a number of different audiences, and thus may include technical information not intended primarily for workers. It is important to emphasize those others parts of the HCS—the label and training—are critical to employees receiving and using the appropriate information on a chemical. FSM

Source: OSHA; for more, go to www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html.