Most employees will find the process intuitive, since it resembles creating an office document from pre-designed templates. The Avery Design & Print GHS Wizard makes it easy for employees to create and print their own GHS labels from pre-designed templates or to create them step-by-step on demand at their desk.

To help small and medium sized organizations print GHS-compliant labels from their existing printers on demand, some companies provide label-printing software along with their labels.Īvery provides such GHS-compliant label software at no cost. Markham notes that remaining GHS label compliant depends on the durability of the appropriate label substrate, getting the label content right, and effective document management.

“Staying GHS compliant will not only help organizations to avoid OSHA fines, sanctions or auditing, but also will help them to open new global markets since GHS is a global standard,” explains Glen Markham, vice president of business development at, Inc., a chemical compliance and information specialist. They are also temperature resistant, can be applied as low as 10° F, and used as high as 220° F in the field when printed from color laser printers or 300° F when printed from inkjet drum label printers. Unlike typical labels that may crack and harden in harsh conditions, UltaDuty labels are UV resistant with 2+ years of outdoor UV life. The durable synthetic labels are chemical resistant, tear resistant, abrasion resistant, and constructed with a marine-grade adhesive that is waterproof and passes a 90-day seawater submersion adhesion test. This requires not only a durable label substrate but also a marine-grade adhesive.Īs such, Avery designed its UltraDuty GHS Chemical Labels to meet the most rigorous GHS requirements. The challenge, however, is that to be GHS compliant, labels must stay reliably affixed without fading or becoming unreadable despite harsh indoor or outdoor conditions including international shipping. Unlike standard labels, industrial labels are used in harsh environments like warehouses, manufacturing facilities and in the field, so must be very durable and able to withstand exposure to chemicals, abrasion, tearing, moisture, sunlight and extreme temperatures. More are turning to flexible, lower cost options, such as industrial-grade labels that allow printing durable GHS labels on demand with existing laser printers and certain inkjet printers.Īvery, a leading label brand in the office market for decades, has just recently expanded into the industrial market and developed industrial-grade labels designed to be GHS compliant, such as its UltraDuty GHS Chemical Labels. Instead of investing in costly dedicated printer/label/software systems, these smaller-sized organizations are easing the transition to GHS label compliance. While large organizations can hire integrators to automate GHS software with a bank of printers tied into high-end ERP infrastructure, small and medium sized businesses do not require this approach. Implementing GHS labeling can seem daunting, particularly to small and medium sized businesses, but it does not have to be. In place of the familiar black and white pictogram symbols previously used in safety labeling, it is important for Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) managers to realize that GHS labels now require pictogram symbols that convey hazard information with a red diamond border.

On each GHS label, six specific items of data are required: Product Name or Identifier Hazard Statement Signal Word GHS Pictogram symbols Precautionary Statement and Supplier Information. Employers with hazardous chemicals in the workplace, for their part, must ensure they have safety data sheets and labels for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals properly. Chemical importers and distributors, in turn, must ensure the hazardous chemicals they sell have GHS-compliant safety data sheets and GHS-compliant labels. They must update their safety data sheets and use GHS-compliant labels to identify their hazardous chemicals. In the US, OSHA set a June 2015 deadline for chemical manufacturers to use GHS compliant labels, followed by a December 2015 deadline for distributors, and June 2016 deadline for end users.Ĭhemical manufacturers must re-classify their hazardous chemicals based on a common chemical classification system defined by GHS. The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) was established by the United Nations to create a unified system for identifying and communicating hazardous chemicals. At the 5.3 million organizations exposed to hazardous chemicals in the US, managers in charge of safety, purchasing, facilities or operations must now ask if their chemical labels are GHS compliant.

Ghs label wizard