August 31, 1994

Ms. Ellen Bernard
Regulatory Affairs
DIFCO Laboratories
Post Office Box 331058
Detroit, Michigan 48232-7058

Dear Ms. Bernard:

Thank you for your letter of February 2, concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), 29 CFR 1910.1200. Please accept my regret for the long delay in responding to your inquiry.

You request clarification on the acceptability of your "FAX-on-demand" system for providing copies of material safety data sheets (MSDS). As you may be aware, OSHA amended the hazard communication standard on February 9. The changes to the standard, published in the Federal Register, generally do not affect the substantive requirements of the standard, but they do provide additional clarification. A copy is enclosed for your information.

The "FAX on Demand" system described in your letter would not meet the requirements of the regulation as stated in 1910.1200(g)(6)(i). That paragraph states that:

"Chemical manufactures or importers shall ensure that distributors and employers are provided an appropriate material safety data sheet with their initial shipment, and with the first shipment after a material safety data sheet is updated."

Your primary obligation in supplying MSDSs is to your direct customers, that is, your distributors. You must provide a copy of the MSDS with the first shipment to each of your direct customers, and, if the MSDS for one of your products is updated, you must send the updated MSDS with the next shipment of the product to that direct customer. Your distributors are, in turn, responsible for supplying a copy of the MSDS with the first shipment to each of their direct customers, and so on. Therefore, it is not necessary for you to include " a miniature version of the MSDS... inside every package."

Get your MSDS binders, posters, signs and more at Safety Emporium.

However, because this chain of information transmission through the distributor can sometimes be broken, OSHA has added the requirement that manufacturers must provide a copy of the MSDS to other "downstream" employers upon request. Your "FAX-on-demand" system can be used to fulfill this requirement. Please refer to revised language in paragraphs (g)(6) and (g)(7) of the standard for additional clarification on requirements for providing MSDSs. Further, we wish to respond to your statements regarding your use of the label and MSDS formats in standards put forth by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The warning statement in your letter "warning causes irritation" would not meet the requirements of the HCS. OSHA requires labels for containers leaving the workplace to contain appropriate hazard warnings (including target organ effects), and that these hazard warnings be based on the inherent hazards of the product. We hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions please contact us at (202) 219-8036. Sincerely, Ruth E. McCully, Director Office of Health Compliance Assistance

Enclosures: Copy of new hazcom rulemaking