change......................................................................................... June 2014 SPRAY 27 nuts and bolts are contained in the budget implementation act. This act, known as Bill C-31 (to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures) contains amendments to the existing Hazardous Products Act, as well as Canada’s Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, that will be necessary to fully implement GHS in Canada. Bill C-31 can be downloaded here: http://goo.gl/u07wdv. It includes the following changes to the Hazardous Products Act: • Tightening the loopholes around when a product is considered “for sale.” The new rules are explicit that products “whether for consideration or not” (which includes free samples) fall under the Act. • The supplier requirements are altered to indicate that the supplier is required to provide product labels and SDS for products that are used, handled or stored in Canadian workplaces. • Fines for non-compliance are increased to a maximum of CAD$5,000,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than two years. The changes to the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act in Bill C-31 are needed in order to implement GHS, but do not appear to place any new burdens on suppliers. The Canadian government estimates that the adoption of GHS will save nearly CAD$400 million through “increased productivity and decreased health and safety costs.” Expect Bill C-31 to pass before Parliament’s summer break, which starts on June 21. There are still additional steps that need to be taken before GHS is implemented in Canada. The provincial governments as well as the three Canadian territories need to amend their labor laws, as most workplaces fall under provincial, not federal, jurisdiction. The final version of the Controlled Products Regulations needs to be released by Health Canada, as well. I know many in the industry are worried that Canada will try to impose the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) June 2015 full compliance date for GHS. Such fears are unwarranted. The Canadian government has committed to implementing GHS by June 1, 2015, but this would be the start, not the end, of the compliance window. Expect at least a two-year phase in period, which would mean that your Canadian workplace labels and SDS will not need to be compliant until 2017 at the earliest. GHS will not be a “set it and forget it” process, as there will be more regulatory changes after 2017. Expect both U.S. and Canadian regulations to be updated, as the United Nations issues new revisions every 24 months. There is also a strong possibility that both the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada will eventually alter consumer product regulations to a GHS-based system. The only constant with the Globally Harmonized System is change. SPRAY Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The GHS itself is not a regulation or a standard. The GHS Document (referred to as “The Purple Book”) establishes agreed hazard classification and communication provisions with explanatory information on how to apply the system. The elements in the GHS supply a mechanism to meet the basic requirement of any hazard communication system, which is to decide if the chemical product produced and/or supplied is hazardous and to prepare a label and/or Safety Data Sheet as appropriate. Regulatory authorities in countries adopting the GHS will thus take the agreed criteria and provisions, and implement them through their own regulatory process and procedures rather than simply incorporating the text of the GHS into their national requirements. The GHS Document thus provides countries with the regulatory building blocks to develop or modify existing national programs that address classification of hazards and transmittal of information about those hazards and associated protective measures. This helps to ensure the safe use of chemicals as they move through the product life cycle from “cradle to grave.” Source: https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghs.html
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