Japan revises the "Occupational Safety and Health Regulations" to update SDS and labelling requirements under the Safety and Health Law

On May 31, 2022, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) announced the revised "Occupational Safety and Health Regulations" (MHLW Order No.
91 of 2022)
.
The "Occupational Safety and Health Regulations", as a subordinate regulation of the "Occupational Safety and Health Law (Safety and Health Law)" (ISHL), specifically stipulates the requirements for the delivery method, display content, and daily management of the target substances
.

The implementation of GHS in Japan involves three major regulations, including the Industrial Safety and Health Law (Safety and Health Law) (ISHL), the Environmental Registration and Management Law of Specified Chemical Substances (Chemical Control Law) (PRTR), and the Toxic and Hazardous Substances Control Law ( Poison Law)" (PDSCL)
.

Based on the summary report of the seminar on the management of chemical substances in the workplace released last July, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will designate more substances with hazard classifications in the future, requiring them to comply with SDS and labelling requirements under the Safety and Health Law
.
The first batch of 234 substances was officially released on February 24 this year by revising the list of substances in Schedule 9 of the Implementation Order of the Safety and Health Law
.
This batch of substances will be required to provide SDS and labelling from April 1, 2024, while chemicals already in circulation in Japan before that have a one-year buffer period
.

In addition, based on the conclusions of the above summary report, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also plans to improve the application of SDS in the management of chemical substances
.
The revision of the "Occupational Safety and Health Rules" is mainly to respond to the requirements of this part
.

The main revisions of the "Occupational Safety and Health Regulations" are as follows:

SDS delivery method:

Currently, SDS is required to be delivered on paper or by other means agreed to by the recipient, such as by disk/CD or by email/fax
.
After the revision, two new SDS delivery methods have been added, that is, it is also possible to send the website or QR code with the SDS recorded.
At the same time, the recipient's prior consent is no longer required for the delivery method
.
The new regulations will take effect from May 31, 2022 (the date of publication)
.
 

SDS update frequency:

From April 1, 2023, the health hazards documented on the SDS must be confirmed every 5 years
.
If there is an update, the SDS must be updated within one year and the SDS recipient notified
.
(* Regular updates are limited to chemicals that are still being supplied downstream, and chemicals that have stopped supplying do not need 5-year confirmation
.
)

SDS newly added records:

It is required that the intended use of the chemical and the precautions for use of the use be documented on the SDS
.
The official recommendations for this part of the content are documented in Part 1 of the SDS
.
The requirement will take effect on April 1, 2024
.

The method of modifying the record of ingredient content:

The current method of vaguely recording the allowable content as 10% is abolished, and it is emphasized that weight percentage (w/w %) must be used as the unit of ingredient content, and other units, such as mg/L, will no longer be allowed to be used
.
For example, currently for ingredient content, 12% can be written as [10-20%], and 6% can be written as [less than 10%], but from April 1, 2024, in principle, a clear weight percentage must be used in SDS
.

However, for special cases, such as the chemical does have a content range due to its own characteristics, or the content of the raw material of the chemical cannot be determined (for example, the raw material is imported from abroad and is a mixture itself, and the foreign supplier only provides the content range.
), the content range is allowed
.
 

Label:

From April 1, 2023, labels will also be required on containers for the following two situations: (1) the subject substance is transferred from one container to another; (2) the subject substance is stored in a container after production
.