IHS Product Stewardship Experts Advise Companies to Treat GHS as a Strategic Business Challenge to Reduce Risks, Complexity
20/03/2012 IHS (Incorporating IMS Research)
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (March 15, 2012) - IHS (NYSE: IHS), the leading global source of information and analytics, recommends companies begin aligning their business processes to comply with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling (GHS), which will be adopted by the U.S. Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later this month."After the final rule is published, IHS will deliver updates to the IHS Product Stewardship Solution™, as well as our managed regulatory content, so our customers can incorporate GHS into their business processes to reduce risk and costs across their operations," said IHS Senior Director of EHS and Sustainability Products Jeff Ladner. "We are pleased for the opportunity to support our customers as they manage change around this important regulation."
GHS recently cleared its final rulemaking hurdle when the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of OSHA's proposed revision to the HCS, clearing the way for GHS to be formally adopted on March 26, 2012.
This is the first major change to the HCS in since 1983. The regulation requires companies to provide detailed documentation, including safety data sheets (SDS) and product labels, to enable their employees and customers to properly handle and store hazardous chemicals. Originally proposed by the United Nations, GHS promotes uniform standards for authoring, labeling and document creation in more than 30 countries, and has enabled businesses in those jurisdictions to reduce risk exposure and enhance workplace safety.
IHS product stewardship experts recommend that companies treat GHS as a strategic operational concern, not a regulatory matter, because of the potential impact to manufacturing or product design. For example, GHS requires companies to classify chemical substances and mixtures based on the potential hazard that is associated with the product. This may result in some products or mixtures being reclassified as hazardous. Those substances could be difficult to obtain going forward and may need to be replaced with a reformulated product or another substance to avoid potential operational disruptions.
IHS experts suggest that companies consider these factors when incorporating GHS into their operational processes:
* Communicate GHS requirements - Employees will need time to understand how to incorporate GHS-compliant processes into their daily work processes. Also, customers may need training to ensure proper handling and storage of regulated chemicals.
* Develop a work-back schedule - Determine what steps will be required to implement GHS into operational processes, and when to begin the process to ensure compliance within OSHA's designated transition period.
* Identify and address potential gaps against SDS authoring requirements - GHS requires companies to provide more detailed product information than existing HCS documentation.
* Align product with GHS classifications. Improperly classified products could lose their marketability, so companies are advised to support evaluation processes with relevant product data or product components.
* GHS is complicated - start early.
GHS also poses significant operational risks to worker safety and operational efficiency for organizations that are unprepared to address its complex, robust documentation requirements. An analysis by IHS experts indicates that GHS will require a level of detail and precision for management and classification of chemicals that exceeds the capability of manual processes, legacy systems, or spreadsheets to effectively manage hazard communications programs. This business challenge is expected to drive increased interest in implementing robust information management solutions that enable corporate managers and executives to address hazard communication throughout the organization as part of a broad-based strategy for enterprise sustainability management.
GHS is one of many regulatory mandates that add complexity and risk exposure to global organizations across a wide array of industries, including chemical manufacturing, petrochemicals, and manufacturing. The IHS Product Stewardship Solution is one of six solutions that enable companies to leverage enterprise sustainability management (ESM) strategies to address the full spectrum of environmental, risk management and sustainability business challenges and identify opportunities for efficiency and growth. For more information about EHS and sustainability solutions from IHS, visit www.ihs.com/ehs-sustainability.
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