3E Company Ready And Active With Support For Proposed OSHA GHS Rule

3E Company, the leading provider of environmental health and safety (EH&S) compliance and information management services, recently reported on the status and capabilities of its specialized GHS (Globally Harmonized System) practice. 3E Company stands ready to support companies in preparing for OSHA's proposed rule to adopt the Globally Harmonized Hazard Communication System. 3E Company's knowledge and experience in understanding and acting upon the proposal's significance and potential impact has made it a leader in the field of GHS compliance, as shown by numerous published articles and speaking engagements by expert staff on the topic.

The proposed OSHA revisions include both philosophical and tactical changes to hazard communications, which have far reaching implications for Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and label authoring, publishing, distribution, and management. The proposal also includes revised criteria for the classification of hazardous chemicals, as well as changes to definitions and terms used in the standards, and new training requirements for employees. When the final rule is promulgated, companies will face many challenges, including re-evaluating how their substances and mixtures are classified, re-issuing MSDSs and labels, and training staff as appropriate.

The Company expects that achieving compliance with the new Hazard Communication Standard will be challenging for many companies. GHS requirements for the US are still evolving and need to be closely tracked. The risk of errors or misinterpretations can persist, which demands access to regulatory expertise. 3E Company stands ready with a broad suite of proven products and services, backed by a skilled staff of GHS experts, to simplify support for the new OSHA system. 3E Company's status as the leader in MSDS and chemical regulatory data services and solutions, combined with its strong expertise with GHS, together make it ideally positioned to support customers as they navigate the challenges associated with the new standard and to help implement GHS compliance activities into businesses around the globe.

"3E has extensive experience developing and implementing proven solutions for GHS. Over the past several years, we have worked with a wide range of customers in locations around the world to ensure their conformance with GHS," said Jytte Syska, President, Ariel Operations & Managing Director, 3E Company Europe. "Asian countries have had GHS requirements in place for a number of years. 3E has been preparing GHS compliant MSDSs for Japanese clients operating in their domestic Japanese market for more than three years. We have also prepared GHS MSDSs and labels for customers who sell in Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand and China where GHS classification, GHS conforming MSDSs and labels are either accepted or required. We have built upon this hands-on experience to further enrich our GHS solution offerings, and as GHS is implemented in regions around the world, we stand ready as a trusted source of GHS support."

While implementing GHS compliance activities can be complicated and time consuming, 3E Company is actively prepared to support the various aspects of compliance management for GHS with a broad suite of proven GHS related services and solutions, including the following:

• The Ariel WebInsight online chemical regulatory compliance reference tool, which provides quick access to official GHS classifications including the Japanese NITE classifications, the Korean KOSHA classifications, the New Zealand and the EU CLP classifications, GHS labels in multiple languages, and GHS full text of regulations and status updates.
• The Ariel Data Manager (ADM) integrated content tool, which feeds chemical regulatory data into standard ERP platforms, such as SAP EH&S, as well as various other corporate EH&S systems. GHS support includes GHS data, GHS classification and labeling rules (country specific implementations), rules and templates for MSDS preparation and multi-lingual GHS phrases. The Rules engine uses logic to automatically assign the GHS classification, taking the various countries' adaptations into account, greatly simplifying and taking the guess-work out of, producing accurate, compliant hazard communication documentation.
• A broad suite of outsourced services, including Ariel MSDS Authoring & Professional Services, which can be tailored to a company's needs. 3E Company can provide GHS classification of substances and mixtures as a separate service and/or as part of MSDSs and label authoring for companies that want GHS classification. 3E Company can also author MSDSs in compliance with GHS requirements for the country or region that has adopted GHS.
• The 3E MSDS Hosting and Push Distribution system supports the distribution of new GHS formatted MSDSs to customers. For companies that will need to re-issue large numbers of MSDSs as GHS implementation occurs, 3E MSDS Distribution services can significantly reduce the burden associated with ensuring the documents are sent downstream as well as accurately track historical data, such as who receives them, on what date. This system can push MSDS documents to end-user customers by email, fax or standard mail. This program also enables companies to post their MSDSs to a customized web interface for easy customer access.
• The MSDgen MSDS authoring system, which uses Ariel regulatory data as the basis for automatically computing the GHS classification for any product based on its formulation. The expert rules system within MSDgen is then used to automatically assign the phrase content in over 40 languages to all MSDS and Label sections based on the GHS classification. Numerous stock MSDS and Label formats are provided with the standard MSDgen system including country-specific GHS adaptations for EU, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China.
• The award-winning 3E Online-MSDS management system, which enables users to search, print, view and email inbound vendor and raw material MSDSs in a company-specific database via a web browser interface. As GHS requirements increase the burden of vendor MSDS management, 3E Company's solutions can help reduce the time and resources necessary for effective compliance management.

SOURCE: 3E Company