Hazard communication is addressed in specific standards for the general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, longshoring, and the construction industry. This page highlights OSHA standards, preambles to final rules (background to final rules), directives (instructions for compliance officers), and standard interpretations (official letters of interpretation of the standards) related to hazard communication.

Note: Twenty-five states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have OSHA-approved State Plans and have adopted their own standards and enforcement policies. For the most part, these States adopt standards that are identical to Federal OSHA. However, some States have adopted different standards applicable to this topic or may have different enforcement policies.

Highlighted Standards

General Industry (29 CFR 1910)

• 1910 Subpart Z, Toxic and hazardous substances [related topic page]
  • 1910.1200, Hazard communication
    • Appendix A, Health Hazard Criteria (Mandatory)
    • Appendix B, Physical Criteria (Mandatory)
    • Appendix C, Allocation Of Label Elements (Mandatory)
    • Appendix D, Safety Data Sheets (Mandatory)
    • Appendix E, Definition of "Trade Secret" (Mandatory)
    • Appendix F, Guidance for Hazard Classifications Re: Carcinogenicity (Non-Mandatory)
  • 1910.1201, Retention of DOT markings, placards and labels

Shipyard Employment (29 CFR 1915)

• 1915 Subpart Z, Toxic and hazardous substances
  • 1915.1200, Hazard communication. See 29 CFR 1910.1200.

Marine Terminals (29 CFR 1917)

• 1917 Subpart B, Marine terminal operations
  • 1917.28, Hazard communication. See 29 CFR 1910.1200.
    • Appendix A, Health Hazard Definitions (Mandatory)
    • Appendix B, Hazard Determination (Mandatory)
    • Appendix C, Information Sources (Advisory)
    • Appendix D, Definition of "Trade Secret" (Mandatory)
    • Appendix E, Guidelines for Employer Compliance (Advisory)

Longshoring (29 CFR 1918)

• 1918 Subpart I, General working conditions
  • 1918.90, Hazard communication. See 29 CFR 1910.1200.

Construction Industry (29 CFR 1926)

• 1926 Subpart D, Occupational health and environmental controls
  • 1926.59, Hazard communication. See 29 CFR 1910.1200.

Preambles to Final Rules

• Hazard Communication (1994)
• Search all available preambles to final rules.

Directives

• Inspection Procedures for the Hazard Communication Standard. CPL 02-02-038 [CPL 2-2.38D], (1998, March 20). Additional information is provided in an 87 KB PPT^*, 31 slides.
• Search all available directives on hazard communication.

Standard Interpretations

• Training programs for the Control of Hazardous Energy (LOTO) and for the Hazard Communication standard are not satisfied solely by merely providing employees written documentation. (2005, October 24).
• Requirements for maintaining Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) for coal including coal dust, fly ash, and silica dust. (2005, April 27).
• Requirements for maintaining material safety data sheets (MSDSs) for consumer art products and office cleaning products. (2005, April 14).
• Requirement to disclose all chemicals having scientific evidence that they pose a health risk regardless of concentrations present in the product on the MSDS. (2005, April 4).
• MSDS's must be provided to employees who package/process drugs for distribution into final form if they contain hazardous chemicals. (2005, February 8).
• Clarification of systems for electronic access to MSDSs. (1999, February 18). Provides an explanation of the Hazard Communication Standard related to MSDSs.
• Search all available standard interpretations on hazard communication.