Back to Basics: Sorting Out Chemical Regulations

Updated: Aug 14, 2023

Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine chemical regulations.

Depending on your industry, you may have to deal with one or more federal agencies that regulate chemicals in commerce.

A variety of federal regulations apply to the production, sale, distribution, transportation, storage, use, and disposal of chemicals.

The Departments of Labor (DOL) and Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) all regulate various aspects of producing, transporting, using, and disposing of hazardous substances. U.S. agencies also try to ensure those domestic regulations conform to international agreements or standards.

Even nongovernmental industry groups get involved. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has developed consensus standards for safely storing and handling chemicals and alerting emergency responders to chemical hazards at a site.

An outline of the regulatory scheme for chemicals includes:

Chemical Safety Board

Things sometimes go wrong. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigates chemical accidents in the same way the National Transportation Safety Board investigates accidents in air, highway, rail, and vessel transportation and transit.

The CSB doesn’t issue any citations or impose any penalties. A CSB investigation attempts to identify root causes and contributing factors in chemical accidents, then makes recommendations for companies and government agencies.

You can learn valuable lessons from the CSB’s investigation reports and the board’s recommendations. The CSB often expects industry participants to learn lessons from the board’s final reports. You can limit a list of CSB recommendations by industry or incident type, such as chemical manufacturing, oil and gas, release, or reactive incident.

In the first half of 2023, the CSB closed investigations of several incidents and issued final reports, including those for:

The CSB has released plans for closing several other investigations this year.

While most recommendations in CSB reports are for companies or industry groups, the board also makes recommendations for regulatory changes at the EPA and OSHA. This spring, the CSB reiterated existing recommendations for the EPA and OSHA to revise their regulations for reactive chemical hazards. The board has 13 open recommendations for OSHA.

Frequently cited OSHA standard: Hazard communication

The OSHA chemical safety regulation that’s most often cited is the hazard communication standard, the agency’s second most frequently cited standard after its construction industry fall protection standard. OSHA cited 2,424 hazard communication violations in fiscal year (FY) 2022.

Industries most frequently cited for hazard communication violations include accommodation and food services, construction, manufacturing, waste management and remediation services, and the wholesale trade. However, the workplaces covered by the standard expanded during the pandemic as more employers handled, stored, and used disinfectants.

OSHA penalties for chemical safety violations can be quite hefty.

Last fall, OSHA cited a Pennsylvania-based metal coatings manufacturer for 5 willful, 15 serious, and 1 other-than-serious violation at its Millvale, New Jersey, facility and sought $573,681 in proposed penalties. Citations for willful violations included respirator, written hazard communication program, safety data sheet (SDS), fall protection, and chemical hazard violations. According to the agency, the employer failed to develop and implement a written hazard communication program, maintain SDSs on-site, and train employees on chemical hazards.

The agency cited an El Paso, Texas, jewelry metal-plating finisher for failing to protect employees working with dangerous acids and other chemicals from potentially permanent eye injuries and issued fines totaling $292,693. The agency found the company failed to implement a written hazard communication program, provide required eyewash stations or showers, and establish and implement a written respiratory protection program.

OSHA issued updated inspection procedures for the hazard communication standard in 2015. OSHA compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) may cite you for the missing elements of a hazard communication program—containers without chemical labels, missing SDSs for chemicals in the workplace, training lapses—along with citations for the lack of a written program.

Both host employers and staffing agencies may be cited if temporary workers aren’t trained on chemical hazards and labels or if they can’t access SDSs for chemicals in the workplace.

During an inspection, CSHOs will review the written program, confirming that the program includes a complete inventory of all hazardous substances, methods for informing employees of hazards encountered in nonroutine tasks and the hazards of substances in unlabeled pipes, and methods for informing other employers’ employees at multiemployer worksites, as well as ensuring all employees can and know how to access the program.

Inspectors will also review the description of the labeling system in the written program and any alternatives used for labeling containers in the workplace. You must designate a person responsible for labeling containers stored in or shipped out of the workplace. Inspectors will check your procedures for reviewing and updating labels in the workplace.

An OSHA inspector will also check that you have assigned responsibility to someone for your SDS collection. A CSHO will want to know how data sheets are maintained:

If you don’t receive an SDS with a shipment, your local OSHA area office may be able to help you obtain one.

Inspectors will compare your collection of SDSs against the chemical inventory in your written hazard communication program. They will also check that your collection of SDSs is current.

An OSHA inspector will also interview employees and supervisors during an inspection to evaluate your compliance with the standard’s training requirements. CSHOs use interviews to determine whether workers understand the hazards of chemicals in their workplace.

Employees and their supervisors must be aware of the hazards they are exposed to and understand how to read container labels; how to find, read, and understand SDSs; and know what precautions to take when exposed to hazardous substances.

OSHA inspectors will try to determine whether there is a training program and whether employees are trained before their first assignment and trained again when new substances are introduced into the workplace. They will also check that employees have received training on your in-house labeling system if you have one.

Hazard communication is an ongoing responsibility, not a “check-the-box” compliance issue. Your written program is the cornerstone of your compliance; it needs to cover how you will handle labels and other warnings, SDSs, and employee information and training. During an inspection, CSHOs will look for a written hazard communication program, container labels, the availability of SDSs, and the effectiveness of your training program.