Is your company ready for Mexico’s updated Hazardous Chemicals standard?

The STPS (Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare) published the Mexican Standard NOM-018-STPS-2015 titled “Harmonized System for the Identification and Communication of Hazards and Risks of Chemicals in the Workplace” (Sistema armonizado para la identificación y comunicación de peligros y riesgos por sustancias químicas peligrosas en los centros de trabajo) in October 2015. With this, Mexico implemented the 5^th revision of the U.N. Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for all Mexican workplaces.

Mexican workplaces will see the harmonized system for chemical identification in effect and enforceable in October. Companies had three years to transition to the new standard which outlines three main elements:

1. Classification of chemical substances
2. Standardization of container labels and
3. SDS (Safety Data Sheets) according to the GHS standard format.

While many countries have regulatory systems in place, the GHS provides a consistent system for the classification of hazardous chemicals. This means that regardless of where a chemical was created, all individuals potentially exposed will be able to understand the chemical classifications and associated hazards through updated pictograms and consistent SDS sheets. When a nation agrees to adopt the criteria and provisions of the GHS, they do so using their own regulatory process, as in the case of Mexico.

For more information on the GHS implementation in Mexico and other countries please visit:

NORMA Oficial Mexicana NOM-018-STPS-2015

http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/implementation_e.html#c25721

https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/ghsguideoct05.pdf