OHSA VS GHS

Osha vs Ghs

Hello, today I am going to type my next blog. This blog is about the differences between OSHA and GHS. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. Congress created the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which President Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970. OSHA's mission is to "assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education and assistance". The agency is also charged with enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations. OSHA is currently headed by Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels. OSHA's workplace safety inspections have been shown to reduce injury rates and injury costs without effects to employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival. OSHA is responsible for enforcing its standards on regulated entities. Compliance Safety and Health Officers carry out inspections and assess fines for regulatory violations. Inspections are planned for worksites in particularly hazardous industries. Inspections can also be triggered by a workplace fatality, multiple hospitalizations, worker complaints, or referrals. It evolves around the cost of regulations and enforcement, versus the actual benefit in reduced worker injury, illness and death. A 1995 study of several OSHA standards by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) found that OSHA relies "generally on methods that provide a credible basis for the determinations essential to rulemakings". Though it found that OSHA's finding and estimates are "subject to vigorous review and challenge", it stated that this is natural because "interested parties and experts involved in rulemakings have differing visions"

 now to talk about GHS. GHS stands for The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is an internationally agreed-upon system, created by the United Nations beginning in 1992 and as of 2015 is not yet fully implemented in many countries. It was designed to replace the various classification and labelling standards used in different countries by using consistent criteria on a global level. It supersedes the relevant system of the European Union, which has implemented the United Nations' GHS into EU law as the CLP Regulation and United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was developed beginning at the United Nations Rio Conference in 1992, when the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), various governments and other stakeholders met at a United Nations conference. Before it was created and implemented, there were many different regulations on hazard classification in use in different countries. While those systems may have been similar in content and approach, they resulted in multiple standards, classifications and labels for the same hazard. Given the extent of international trade in chemicals and the potential impact on neighboring countries when controls are not implemented, countries determined that a worldwide approach was necessary.

The GHS was designed as one universal standard for all countries to follow and to replace all the diverse classification systems; however, it is not compulsory under UN law. The system provides the infrastructure for participating countries to implement a hazard classification and hazard communication standard, which many less economically developed countries would not have had the money to create themselves. In the longer term, the GHS is expected to improve knowledge of the chronic health hazards of chemicals and encourage a move towards the elimination of hazardous chemicals, especially carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxicants, or their replacement with less hazardous ones. There are big differences and big similarities between both. But when it comes down to it. They were both put in place to make sure workers are safe and can survive in a healthy work environment. To learn more about each, please click on the links below.

osha 1

osha 2
ghs 1