One easy way to get organized – and stay OSHA compliant – is to make sure your secondary chemical containers are properly labelled. OSHA’s Globally Harmonized System for Hazard Communication (GHS) guidelines went into full effect in 2017. One of the requirements is that any containers (usually smaller and more portable) you pour chemicals into, MUST be properly labelled with chemical name, hazards and other pertinent information. Our GHS secondary container labels are a top-selling product for us and Stop-Painting’s in-house designed labels are a top pick for companies looking for an easy solution to the new GHS regulations.
The new GHS is one of OSHA’s most far-reaching regulations in the past decade and focuses on chemical hazards and how we communicate about them – the U.S. government’s previous chemical communication system has been replaced with the Globally Harmonized System for Hazard Communication (GHS).
This new set of standards was created (and agreed upon) by an international congress of representatives to create a consistent “language” for communicating about chemicals, especially hazardous chemicals. Using pictograms, there should be less miscommunication following language translations.
This new system utilizes Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and labeling that will be identical for the same chemical no matter if it was manufactured in Europe, Asia or North America or what language the maker of the chemical use in labeling. This will not only enhance the protection for people and the environment, but will facilitate international trade.
Companies that remove chemicals from the original bottle and transfer into secondary bottles (usually spray bottles), have to apply proper labels on these secondary containers. For small businesses, this may seem unnecessary, but a typical OSHA fine for not properly labeling containers according to GHS guidelines is about $3,000.
Getting your hazardous labels updated should be a priority, says hazmat specialist and former OSHA compliance officer, Chris Palmisano. OSHA HAZCOM workplace labeling citations are currently the number one written OSHA fine citation in the United States for General Industry and number two in Construction.
Don’t let fines affect your bottom line. Updated labels can be an easy process with Stop-Painting.com.
As employers are required to upgrade their plans for labeling secondary workplace containers, we designed and developed labels that will meet this need.
We offer a carefully researched GHS workplace label that was created by our company and Palmisano.
Our label could not be easier to use. An employee simply transfers data from the original container’s label to the Stop-Painting’s GHS secondary container label. Each piece of hazard information found on the chemical’s original label finds a home on the secondary container label.
Palmisano says, “Until now, most companies and organizations have been using labels that do not contain pictograms, signal words, or other core elements of the GHS labeling scheme. These older labels also rely on a hazard numbering scale that runs in the reverse direction of the GHS scale (that is, high numbers denote high hazards instead of low hazards), which may cause confusion now that GHS has been adopted as the standard for original container labels. In light of the recent regulatory changes, OSHA has mandated employers to update their procedures for labeling secondary containers to ensure that they are complying with OSHA’s new regulations implementing GHS.”
Check out our webpage that covers everything you need to know about using our labels and how they ensure you’re OSHA compliant.
Here’s a video that shows how easy it is to use our GHS labels to get organized and OSHA compliant.
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