HEALTHCARE HYGIENE PUTTING A LABEL ON IT


In a healthcare facility, it is essential that all cleaning chemicals are properly labeled. With that in mind, Del Williams, a California-based technical writer for the healthcare sector, looks at current regulations, and how Avery’s GHS labels can help to keep you up to standard.


Healthcare facility and laboratory end users – from hospital, medical office, medical lab, and research lab managers to environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance officers – must be confident their chemical labels are GHS compliant.


In the US, OSHA set a June 1, 2016 deadline for end users to update their workplace labels. If compliance is lacking, healthcare end users must be prepared to document for OSHA their good faith efforts to become compliant, including an expected timeline for achieving it.


Hazard Statement; Signal Word; GHS Pictogram symbols; Precautionary Statement; and Supplier Information.


Instead of the familiar black and white pictogram symbols previously used in safety labeling, GHS labels now require pictogram symbols that convey hazard information with a red diamond border.


2


On each GHS label, six items of date are required: Product Name or Identifier; Hazard Statement; Signal Word; GHS Pictogram symbols; Precautionary Statement; and Supplier Information.


The ‘Globally Harmonised System’ (GHS) was established by the United Nations to create a unified system for identifying and communicating hazardous chemicals. According to OSHA, the new standard covers over 43 million workers who produce or handle hazardous chemicals in more than five million workplaces across the country.


GHS compliance is even required for chemical formulations purchased in bulk containers for cost savings, such as barrels of disinfectant, sanitiser, or sterilant, that are transferred to smaller ‘down-packed’ containers, such as bottles, for portable use. Container sizes requiring GHS-compliant labeling generally range from 55-gallon drums down to spray bottles and even small samples or test vials.


40 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning October 2016


In healthcare facilities, powerful chemical sterilants like ethylene oxide are used to sterilise moisture and heat-sensitive instruments. High-level disinfectants like glutaraldehyde are often used to disinfect heat-sensitive equipment like endoscopes, bronchoscopes, and surgical, dialysis, as well as ear, nose, and throat instruments.


Here are five tips to help healthcare facilities and lab end users to quickly get up to speed on GHS regulation and ensure compliance for even smaller ‘down-packed’ chemical container labeling.


1


Have GHS-compliant safety data sheets and labels, and


train workers to handle hazardous chemicals properly. On each GHS label, six items of data are required: Product Name or Identifier;


Label all secondary


containers. If a chemical is supplied to the workplace with a GHS label, it must


be maintained. If the chemical is transferred to a secondary


container, such as a tank or bottle that stays in the workplace, employers may label it with information from the original GHS shipping label or safety data sheet.


However, employers may choose to use an alternate system such as the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Standard 704 or the American Coatings Association (ACA)’s Hazardous Materials Identification System (HMIS®


). If using an alternate


system, the employer must ensure the information is consistent with GHS and that workers understand specific physical and health hazards.


If a chemical is transferred to a ‘portable’ secondary container, such as a flask, beaker, or dropper bottle, for use only by the person who transferred it during the same work


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