Workers need to know that the duties of care owed to them regarding warning labels change over time.
Warning labels are an extremely powerful tool in keeping people safe from preventable accidents involving all sorts of products or goods. So much so, that there are all sorts of laws, rules, and regulations in place not only to require warning labels, but that specify things like where they should be placed; the content they should include; and even things like their graphics and font sizes. For more, read Warning Labels: Danger of Serious Injury or Death in Accidents Involving Products; and Inadequate Warning Labels and Legal Liability for Bodily Harm.
The legal duties of safety and care placed upon manufacturers, sellers, distributors, and others expose them to serious legal liabilities if their failures in following warning label protocols causes someone to be severely hurt or killed. More than one company may share responsibility in these tragedies. See, Accident Injuries and Warning Labels: How Many Have Legal Liability for the Victim’s Harm?
And their obligations can change over time. Specifically, there may be changes in the legal requirements for specific warning labels.
This means two things: (1) those with legal duties regarding products that have the power to hurt people need to keep up with legal changes to warning labels; and (2) they also need to implement these label changes promptly and effectively, so people are protected.
One clear example: this month’s news release from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) regarding new warning label changes in the Hazard Communication Standard (“HCS”), found in 29 C.F.R. §1910.1200.
Final Rule Effective July 19, 2024: Updated Haz Com Standard for Warning Labels
This new final rule was announced on May 20, 2024 by the Department of Labor. It changes a safety law that was first put in place back in 1983 and was last amended in 2012.
It is an important change that will need to be given immediate attention by those with the duties of care and safety involving hazardous chemicals. There is not much of a time lag before warning labels need to meet these new requirements: this new rule is effective on July 19, 2024. However, the Final Rule does include a transitional period with timetables for compliance according to (1) hazardous substances and (2) hazardous mixtures.
The goal is to keep both workers in all our various industrial worksites as well as first responders better protected against bodily harm from hazardous chemicals. It is focused upon both warning labels and safety sheets.
The new requirements are not novel or unique. OSHA explains that the new requirement is following what is already in place in the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.
What are Hazardous Chemicals on the Worksites of Illinois and Indiana?
OSHA has a long, and growing, list of things that workers may come across while doing their daily job duties that can cause them immediate bodily injury or long-term physical illness. These things can kill immediately or cause debilitating harm that may be permanent or fatal over time.
From OSHA, these hazards may include:
- Arsenic
- Asbestos
- Asphalt fumes
- Benzene
- Beryllium
- 1-Bromopropane
- 1,3-Butadiene
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Diacetyl
- Diesel exhaust
- Ethylene oxide
- Formaldehyde
- Hexavalent chromium
- Hydrogen sulfide
- Isocyanates
- Lead
- Mercury
- Metals, toxic
- Metalworking fluids
- Methylene chloride
- Silica, crystalline
- Solvents
- Synthetic mineral fibers
- Toluene.
The Required Changes to Hazardous Chemical Warning Labels
As explained in the OSHA Overview of the Hazard Communication Standard, the reason for making this charge is “…to ensure chemical safety in the workplace, information about the identities and hazards of the chemicals must be available and understandable to workers.”
To meet this goal, the new Final Rule dictates the following changes, which notably impact both “chemical manufacturers and importers” as well as employers who have dangerous chemicals on their job sites:
- Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers;
- All employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and safety data sheets for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals appropriately.
The warning label changes imposed by the new federal regulation involve:
- Hazard classification: Provides specific criteria for classification of health and physical hazards, as well as classification of mixtures.
- 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: Will now have a specified 16-section format.
- Information and training: Employers are required to train workers on the new labels’ elements and safety data sheets format to facilitate recognition and understanding.
These warning labels involve products known to be dangerous, such as explosives, aerosols, and chemicals under pressure. For more details, OSHA has published a short video about the improved rule in English and Spanish on its YouTube page.
Hazardous Chemicals Can Cause Death or Catastrophic Harm from Injury or Illness
While it’s to be expected there will be some corporate outcry about increased costs and expenses involved in implementing these changes, the need to keep workers better protected from dangerous chemicals while on the job is essential.
As described in the Final Rule’s Summary, “…the agency has determined that the revisions in this final rule will enhance the effectiveness of the HCS by ensuring employees are appropriately apprised of the chemical hazards to which they may be exposed, thus reducing the incidence of chemical-related occupational illnesses and injuries.” See, 89 FR 44144.
In 2022, the only federal safety regulation that was disobeyed and disrespected more than the current Hazard Communication Standard was the law involving fall accidents on the worksite. Failures by employers and others to protect workers against injuries and illnesses caused by toxins and dangerous materials is not debatable.
Read, Dangerous Chemicals and Work Injuries: 2nd Highest Safety Violation in 2022 Was Hazard Communication.
Recognizing the need to give better protection to workers from the risks involved with hazardous chemicals on the job site is particularly important in our part of the country. A significant number of people working in Indiana and Illinois are earning a living on industrial jobsites where this danger is a daily occurrence, including those employed in construction; agri-business or farming; manufacturing; steel mills; mining; maritime; railroading; warehousing; and commercial trucking.
Employers who are currently disrespecting the dangers of hazardous materials are endangering our workers and their families. Imposing a more stringent hazardous chemical standard (HCS) is crucial.
If you or a loved one work with, or in close proximity to, hazardous chemicals, then please know that not only is there a current (and often ignored) federal law regarding these dangerous products, but that a new and more imposing federal safety regulation has just been passed.
The new 2024 safety regulation spotlights the need for better warning labels on these dangerous products and goods. Warning labels can save lives. Workers are encouraged to be alert and aware to chemical risks on the job, and the warning labels (or lack thereof) on these products.
Should workers be harmed in a chemical accident on the job, both Indiana and Illinois offer state law avenues for justice to the victim and their loved ones. In some instances, federal law may apply.
For more, read:
- Three Things That Must Be Included in a Product Warning Label
- Warning Labels and Work Accidents
- Scalding Burns, Surgery, Scarring: Hot Coffee Injuries Exemplify Importance of Adequate Warning Labels
- Chemical Injuries on the Job: Continued Widespread Failure to Comply with Federal Safety Standard
- Chemical Accidents: Burns, Inhalation, or Neurological Work Injuries on the Job in Indiana or Illinois
- Explosives and Fire: Workplace Explosion Accidents.
Chemicals can kill or cause permanent injury, yet employers obviously ignore safety regulations designed to keep workers safe from harm. Warning labels on hazardous materials will be changing by federal mandate. Please be careful out there!
