GHS Compliance: Challenges and Solutions

Identifying, collecting and communicating information on the hazards posed by chemicals remains a major issue for global companies, one that can be more easily handled via reclassifications using GHS-compliant labels and material safety data sheets. Every multinational corporation faces numerous challenges when it comes to compliance with the multiplicity of laws and regulations that apply in each region or sovereign state. This is especially true with chemical companies/manufacturers, where compliance data originates in disparate systems across the enterprise. Modifications to existing regulations, or adoption of new laws, can profoundly impact a corpora-tion’s data management system and for many companies, compliance is an organization-wide transformational initiative. One of the most daunt-ing aspects is the volume of additional chemical data companies are now required to collect, track and report in material safety data sheets (MSDS).1 An MSDS is nothing but a document that contains information about the potential health and envi-ronmental hazards. MSDS are prepared by the supplier or manufacturer of the product and are intended to state the hazards of the product and how to use it safely. Many chemicals, no doubt, pose hazards to humans and to the environment, from initial production through final disposal. As a result of globalization, chemicals are routinely used by people worldwide who speak different languages, write in different alphabets and come from dif-ferent living conditions and educational back-grounds. In some countries, a chemical may be classified as hazardous, while in others it is not. For decades, identifying, collecting and communicating information on the hazards posed by chemicals has been a major issue for local, national, regional and international authorities. Different jurisdictions developed distinct chemical classification systems that had merits within their local areas, but sometimes created confusion at wider levels. The United Nations took on the task of developing a universal method of chemical labeling and hazard warnings for the use, trans-port and disposal of chemicals. The result is th