Distributor

Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD), formerly the National Association of Chemical Distributors, President and CEO Eric R. Byer issued the following statement raising concerns over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) final rulemaking on the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS):

“ACD members have a personal stake in the health, safety, and security of their employees, companies, and communities and they take this commitment seriously. Despite unprecedented supply chain and economic challenges over the last few years, chemical distribution companies used their expertise to deliver essential chemicals and ingredients safely and responsibly daily.

“While ACD supports harmonizing the HCS with the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification (GHS) and Labeling of Chemicals, OSHA’s new final rule will place significant administrative pressure on these chemical distribution firms with no commensurate increases in worker safety or harmonization. The final HCS rule is a slight improvement over the proposed rule, yet it still adds needless complexity and liability to the system and will require our members to shift substantial resources to update safety data sheets (SDS) and labels.

“Perhaps most disturbing is OSHA’s failure to acknowledge the costs chemical distribution companies will incur to comply with the new requirements, wrongly claiming that the rule will actually result in cost savings for industry. OSHA blatantly rejected concerns expressed by ACD and many other members of the regulated community that some of the changes would make the HCS more divergent from the GHS and would require challenging and costly updates to SDS and labeling software.

“This final rulemaking is in addition to numerous other onerous regulations recently issued by the Administration imposing excessive and burdensome costs and delays on businesses of all sizes. ACD is disappointed that OSHA failed to consider many of the legitimate concerns expressed by ACD and others during the rule’s comment period.”

ACD previously submitted comments warning OSHA about the unintended consequences of this rule on May 19, 2021.