Rules + Regs

DOL announces final rule updating Hazard Communication Standard

In May, the Department of Labor announced a final rule from its Occupational Safety and Health Administration that will update the current Hazard Communication Standard to better protect workers by improving the amount and quality of information on labels and safety data sheets, which allows workers and first responders to react more quickly during an emergency, according to OSHA. The update took effect in July.

Aligned primarily with the seventh revision of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, the updated standard requires labels on small packaging to be more comprehensive and readable and makes changes to help ensure trade secrets no longer prevent workers and first responders from receiving critical hazard information on safety data sheets; updated physical hazard classes to better inform users regarding safe handling of explosives, aerosols and chemicals under pressure; and updated precautionary statements about how to safely handle, store and dispose of hazardous chemicals.

OSHA’s previous Hazard Communication Standard update, published in 2012, was the first to align with GHS. That final rule incorporated the third revision to provide a common and coherent approach to classifying chemicals and communicating hazard information.

Safety+Health magazine reports employers using products covered under the standard must update their hazard communication programs, labeling and employee training by July 26, 2026, or Jan. 19, 2028, depending on substances or mixtures. Until those dates, employers can comply with the old or new standard, or both.

The Hazard Communication Standard provides a standardized approach to workplace hazard communications associated with exposure to hazardous chemicals. 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 safely.

OSHA finds contractor did not provide safeguards to prevent employee fatality

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined roofing contractor OJR Construction Inc., Watertown, Mass., again violated federal regulations for fall protections following a workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries after falling about 27 feet when trying to carry materials and climb a ladder jack scaffold at a job site in September 2023, according to OSHA. The company is not an NRCA member.

OSHA cited OJR Construction in March 2017 and September 2019 for failing to protect employees from fall hazards by complying with required safety standards.

OSHA inspectors found the company willfully exposed employees to fall hazards by not providing a safety net or personal fall-arrest or guardrail systems and by failing to have a program to train employees to recognize and address fall hazards.

The investigation also determined OJR Construction exposed workers to falls and other hazards by not complying with OSHA regulations that required:

• Installing guardrails on scaffolds or determining the tipping weight of scaffold planks that extended more than 18 inches over a supporting surface, exposing employees to falls over 15 feet
• Guaranteeing ladder side rails extended at least 3 feet above the upper landing surface being accessed
• Ensuring the area below the scaffold and ladders within the pathway of vehicular traffic were barricaded to prevent fall and struck-by hazards
• Having a competent person on the job site to ensure the use of fall protection
• Preventing debris from accumulating at the bottom of ladders to provide safe access to the job site
• Providing and ensuring eye protection for employees using nail guns

Following its investigation, OSHA cited OJR Construction for one willful violation and 10 serious violations and assessed $88,721 in proposed penalties.

OJR Construction has chosen to contest OSHA’s citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Contractor cited for exposing workers to fall hazards

Inspectors with the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed employees of Elmer Miller, operating as Miller Building Systems LLC, Arcola, Ill., standing, climbing and walking on trusses and top plates of residential homes at heights greater than 18 feet above ground level without proper fall protection at four worksites. Inspectors allege when workers did wear fall protection, they were not directed to properly tie-off or secure the body harness, rendering the equipment ineffective. The company is not an NRCA member.

Since 2019, OSHA has cited the company 17 times for fall-related violations, including seven times in 2023. Miller exercised his right to contest the 2023 citations and awaits a hearing before an administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to challenge the violations.

WEB
EXCLUSIVE

• Web exclusive: Click below for more information.
• Learn more about the seventh revised edition of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)