California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety › Subchapter 7 - General Industry Safety Orders › Group 16 - Control of Hazardous Substances › Article 109 - Hazardous Substances and Processes › Section 5194 - Hazard Communication

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) (Reserved)
(b) Scope and Application.
(1) This section requires manufacturers or
						importers to classify the hazards of chemicals which they produce or import,
						and all employers to provide information to their employees about the hazardous
						chemicals to which they may be exposed, by means of a hazard communication
						program, labels and other forms of warning, safety data sheets, and information
						and training. In addition, this section requires distributors to transmit the
						required information to employers.
(2) This section applies to any hazardous
						chemical which is known to be present in the work place in such a manner that
						employees may be exposed under normal conditions of use or in a reasonably
						foreseeable emergency resulting from work place operations.
(3) This section applies to laboratories that
						primarily provide quality control analyses for manufacturing processes or that
						produce hazardous chemicals for commercial purposes, and to all other
						laboratories except those under the direct supervision and regular observation
						of an individual who has knowledge of the physical hazards, health hazards, and
						emergency procedures associated with the use of the particular hazardous
						chemicals involved, and who conveys this knowledge to employees in terms of
						safe work practices. Such excepted laboratories must also ensure that labels of
						incoming containers of hazardous chemicals are not removed or defaced pursuant
						to section 5194(f)(9), and
						must maintain any safety data sheets that are received with incoming shipments
						of hazardous chemicals and ensure that they are readily available to laboratory
						employees pursuant to section
						5194(g).
(4) This section does not require labeling of
						the following chemicals:
(A) Any pesticide as
						such term is defined in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
						(7 U.S.C.
						136 et seq.), when subject to the labeling
						requirements of that Act and labeling regulations issued under that Act by the
						Environmental Protection Agency;
(B) Any food, food additive, color additive,
						drug, cosmetic, or medical or veterinary device, including materials intended
						for use as ingredients in such products (e.g., flavors and fragrances), as such
						terms are defined in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C.
						301 et seq.) and regulations issued under
						that Act, when they are subject to the labeling requirements of that Act and
						labeling regulations issued under that Act by the Food and Drug
						Administration;
(C) Any distilled
						spirits (beverage alcohols), wine, or malt beverage intended for nonindustrial
						use, as such terms are defined in the Federal Alcohol Administration Act
						(27 U.S.C.
						201 et seq.) and regulations issued under
						that Act, when subject to the labeling requirements of that Act and labeling
						regulations issued under that Act by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
						and Explosives; and;
(D) Any
						consumer product or hazardous substance as those terms are defined in the
						Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) and
						Federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1261 et
						seq.) respectively, when subject to a consumer product safety standard or
						labeling requirement of those Acts, or regulations issued under those Acts by
						the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
(5) This section does not apply to:
(A) Any hazardous waste as such term is
						defined by the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource
						Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42U.S.C. 6901 et
						seq.), when subject to regulations issued under that Act by the Environmental
						Protection Agency;
(B) Tobacco or
						tobacco products;
(C) Wood or wood
						products including lumber which will not be processed, where the manufacturer
						or importer can establish that the only hazard they pose to employees is the
						potential for flammability or combustibility (non-excluded hazardous chemicals
						which are used in conjunction with wood or wood products, or are known to be
						present as impurities in those materials, and wood which may be subsequently
						sawed or cut, generating dust, are covered by this section);
(D) Articles (hazardous chemicals used in the
						manufacture or use of an article are covered by this section unless otherwise
						excluded);
(E) Foods, drugs, or
						cosmetics intended for personal consumption by employees while in the
						workplace;
(F) Retail food sale
						establishments and all other retail trade establishments, exclusive of
						processing and repair work areas;
(G) Consumer products packaged for
						distribution to, and use by, the general public, provided that employee
						exposure to the product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
						occurring during the principal consumer use of the product;
(H) The use of a chemical in compliance with
						regulations of the Director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation issued
						pursuant to section
						12981
						of the Food and Agricultural Code.
(I) Work operations where employees only
						handle chemicals in sealed containers which are not opened under normal
						conditions of use (such as are found in marine cargo handling, warehousing, or
						transportation); however, this section does apply to these operations as
						follows:
1. Employers shall ensure that labels
						on incoming containers of hazardous chemicals are not removed or
						defaced;
2. Employers shall
						maintain copies of any safety data sheets that are received with incoming
						shipments of the sealed containers of hazardous chemicals, shall obtain a
						safety data sheet for sealed containers of hazardous chemicals received without
						a safety data sheet if an employee requests the safety data sheet, and shall
						ensure that the safety data sheets are readily accessible during each work
						shift to employees when they are in their work area(s); and,
3. Employers shall ensure that employees are
						provided with information and training in accordance with subsection (h) except
						for the location and availability of the written hazard communication program
						under subsection (h)(2)(C), to the extent necessary to protect them in the
						event of a spill or leak of a hazardous chemical from a sealed
						container.
(6)
						Proposition 65 Warnings.
(A) Notwithstanding
						any other provision of law including the preceding subsections, an employer
						which is a person in the course of doing business within the meaning of Health
						and Safety Code Section
						25249.11(a) and
						(b), is subject to the Safe Drinking Water
						and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65 or the "Act") (Health and
						Safety Code §
														25249.5
						et seq.), and shall comply with the Act in the manner set forth in subsections
						(B) and (C) below. The following employers are not subject to the Act:
1. an employer employing fewer than ten
						employees;
2. any city, county, or
						district or any department or agency thereof or the state or any department or
						agency thereof or the federal government or any department or agency
						thereof;
3. any entity in its
						operation of a public water system as defined in Health and Safety Code Section
						4010.1.
(B) Exposures Subject to Proposition 65 and
						Hazard Communication. Before exposing any employee to any hazardous substance
						that otherwise falls within the scope of this section and which requires a
						warning under this Act (see
						22 CCR
						Section 12000, Chemicals Known to the State
						to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity) except as provided in subsection (D)
						below, any employer subject to the Act shall comply with the requirements set
						forth in subsections (d) through (k). Such compliance shall be deemed
						compliance with the Act.
(C)
						Exposures Subject to Proposition 65 Only. Before knowingly and intentionally
						exposing any employee to any hazardous substance that does not otherwise fall
						within the scope of the section, but which requires a warning under the Act
						(see 22
						CCR Section 12000, Chemicals Known to the
						State to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity) except as provided in
						subsection (D) below, any employer subject to the Act shall either provide a
						warning to employees in compliance with California Code of Regulations Title 22
						(22 CCR) Section
						12601(c) in effect
						on May 9, 1991 or shall comply with the requirements set forth in subsections
						(d) through (k).
(D) Exposures Not
						Subject to Proposition 65. A warning required by subsection (B) and (C) above
						shall not apply to any of the following:
1. An
						exposure for which federal law governs warning in a manner that preempts state
						authority.
2. An exposure that
						takes place less than twelve months subsequent to the listing of the chemical
						in 22 CCR
						Section 12000.
3. An exposure for which the employer
						responsible can show that the exposure poses no significant risk assuming
						lifetime exposure at the level in question for the chemicals known to the State
						to cause cancer, and that the exposure will have no observable effect assuming
						exposure at one thousand (1,000) times the level in question for chemicals
						known to the State to cause reproductive toxicity, based on evidence and
						standards of comparable scientific validity to the evidence and standards which
						form the scientific basis for the listing of such chemical in
						22 CCR
						Section 12000. In any enforcement action the
						burden of showing that an exposure meets the criteria of this subsection shall
						be on the employer.
(E)
						Additional Enforcement of Proposition 65. In addition to any other applicable
						enforcement provision, violations or threatened violations of the Act may be
						enforced in the manner set forth in Health and Safety Code Section
						25249.7
						for violations and threatened violations of Health and Safety Code Section
						25249.6.
						Compliance with
						22 CCR
						Section 12601(c) in effect
						on May 9, 1991 shall be deemed a defense to an enforcement action under Health
						and Safety Code Section
						25249.7.
(F) All terms and provisions of subsection
						(b)(6) shall have the same meaning as the following 22 CCR Sections in effect
						on May 9, 1991: 12201(a), 12201(b), 12201(c), 12201(d), 12201(f), 12201(k),
						12502, 12601, 12701(a), 12701(b), 12701(d), 12703, 12705, 12707, 12709, 12711,
						12721, 12801, 12803, 12805, 12821 and 12901. The above listed 22 CCR Sections
						in effect on May 9, 1991 are printed in Appendix G to this section.
						Additionally, all terms and provisions of subsection (b)(6) shall have the same
						meaning as in the Act and in
						22 CCR
						Section 12000.