the 33rd annual meeting
of united agricultural cooperative, inc.
for members and stockholders only
Thursday, June 25, 2015
formal invitation coming soon
I
Be in the know about June 1
deadline for safety data sheets
f you’ve been keeping up with the Hazard Communication
Standard (HCS) changes, then you probably are aware that there
is a June 1 deadline affecting Safety Data Sheets (SDS). But what is
this deadline all about?
“reasonable diligence and good faith” efforts before issuing citations
for non-compliance. As long as a company can demonstrate to OSHA’s
satisfaction that they tried to meet the deadline but the information
needed was not available, OSHA will not issue a citation.
OSHA set June 1, 2015, as the compliance date for all chemical
manufacturers, distributors and importers to provide SDSs for their
products in the new SDS format, as set out in the HCS-2012 final rule.
This deadline does not directly affect chemical users. As indicated
above, this deadline is for chemical manufacturers, distributors, and
importers. If you are an end user of a chemical, your responsibility
is to have the latest available SDS from the source you obtain the
chemical from and make it available to your employees. You should
use the latest version you have. You should receive updated versions
with future deliveries. If you are concerned about the SDS you have,
you are always able to contact your chemical manufacturer, distributor
or importer to see if an updated SDS is available.
Many chemical manufacturers, distributors and importers have
expressed concern about meeting this deadline. They can breathe
a little easier now, as long as they have tried to obtain the latest
information needed for their SDSs. OSHA recently stated through an
enforcement guidance that it will take into consideration documented
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