A recent survey of EH&S professionals found that nearly half of them didn’t think their companies were meeting GHS compliance standards. This news comes almost a month after the final deadline for full GHS compliance, which means many companies are risking fines by delaying compliance.
The same study found that 73% of GHS-compliant companies took over a year to meet standards. This is particularly troubling news for the stragglers, as it shows they could remain out of compliance for more than a year.
With OSHA beginning to issue citations over GHS non-compliance, one would think that there would be more of a sense of urgency about things. Despite this, nearly all of the slowpokes estimate that it will take them longer than 120 days to reach compliance.
Clearly, many American companies need to speed up their GHS compliance timeline. How can you be sure you aren’t out of compliance yourself? Here are some tips:
- Maintain an efficient SDS management system in order to spot outdated SDSs and MSDSs as soon as possible.
- Regularly conduct chemical inventories, so that you can keep your SDS inventory up-to-date. While you’re at it, make sure you keep an eye open for non-compliant container labels.
- Stay in regular contact with your suppliers; it may technically be their job to inform you when there’s a change in their product, but a periodic reminder might not hurt.
If you find any non-compliant sheets, have Quantum convert them to GHS format for you. Our experienced team of GHS experts can put you on the fast-track to compliance.
