OSHA Rule Corrects Errors in HazCom Standard

A new final rule published by OSHA on Jan. 8 corrects “several inadvertent errors” in the agency’s hazard communication standard and makes one technical amendment to Appendix F. The standard was most recently updated and revised by a final rule published in May 2024. The agency first made some corrections in October 2024.

New corrections to the regulatory text include updating the definition of liquid, which OSHA says inadvertently omitted the conversion of 14.69 PSI for all references to vapor pressure; updating the definition of physical hazard to include chemicals under pressure; and adding some missing headings.

Other errors occurred in the standard’s appendices. For example, OSHA is replacing figures in Appendix A that it says were “inadvertently altered in the final rule” with versions that were included in the 2021 proposed rule. Further changes are intended to correct formatting, spelling, and numbering errors as well as to remove elements from the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) that the agency explains were “inadvertently included in the final rule but are not appropriate for OSHA's standard.”

The technical amendment to Appendix F revises the first sentence in the section titled “Responses Are in One Sex or Both Sexes.” The new final rule changes the term “gender-specific tumors” to “sex-specific tumors.”

According to OSHA, because these errors were mostly typographical in nature and the technical amendment “[does] not affect or change any existing rights or obligations,” stakeholders are unlikely to object to the changes. Therefore, the agency has determined it can make these changes without a public notice-and-comment period.

The changes are summarized in a table included in the new rule. For more information, view the notice in the Federal Register. More information about OSHA’s hazard communication standard is available from the agency’s website.