What is GHS/CLP and who does it affect?

Put simply this regulation affects everyone who sells hazardous materials to other professional users and will replace the UK’s CHIP regulations. So why do we need to change? The idea of the GHS framework is to make it easier for companies to do business thoughout the world by everyone using the same classifications. If you look at the table for Acute Toxic (Oral) you can see how hard it is for companies, for each country that they want to trade in they have to create a different MSDS.

Acute oral toxicity LD50 (mg/kg)
Organization/Country/ Regulation or Standard	High		Hazard				Low
	0 ........		< 50 .......		< 500 .......		< 5000 .......
ANSI/US/A 129.1	< 50 Highly Toxic		> 50 < 500 Toxic		> 500 < 2000 Harmful
OSHA/US/HCS	< 50 Highly Toxic		> 50 ≤ 500 Toxic
EPA/US/FIFRA	≤ 50 Toxicity Category I		> 50 ≤ 500 Toxicity Category II		> 500 ≤ 5000 Toxic Category III		> 5000 Toxicity Category IV
CPSC/US/FHSA	< 50 Highly Toxic		> 50 ≤ 500 Toxic
GHS	≤ 5	> 5 ≤ 50	> 50 ≤ 300		> 300 ≤ 2000	> 2000 ≤ 5000
DOT/US	< 5 Picking Group I	> 5 ≤ 50 Picking Group II	> 50 ≤ 200 (solid) Picking Group III
			> 50 ≤ 500 (liquid) Picking Group III
NFPA/US	≤ 5 Hazard Category 4	> 5 ≤ 50 Hazard Category 3	> 50 ≤ 500 Hazard Category 2		> 500 ≤ 2000 Hazard Category 1	> 2000 Hazard Category 0
NPCA/US/HMIS	≤ 1 Toxicity Rating 4	> 1 ≤ 50 Toxicity Rating 3	> 50 ≤ 500 Toxicity Rating 2		> 500 ≤ 5000 Toxicity Rating 1		> 5000 Toxicity Rating 0
EU	< 25 Very Toxic	> 25 ≤ 200 Toxic		> 200 ≤ 2000 Harmful
WHMIS/Canada	≤ 50 Very Toxic WHMIS Class D, Division 1, Subdivision A		> 50 ≤ 500 Toxic WHMIS Class D, Division 1, Subdivision B
Australia/NOHSC	< 25 Very Toxic	> 25 ≤ 200 Toxic		> 200 ≤ 2000 Harmful
Mexico	<1 Extremely Toxic	> 20 ≤ 50 Highly Toxic	> 50 ≤ 500 Moderately Toxic		> 500 ≤ 5000 Mildy Toxic
Malaysia	< 25 Very Toxic		200 to 500 Harmful
Japan	< 30 Poisonous			300 to 3000 Powerful
Korea	< 25 Very Toxic	> 25 ≤ 200 Toxic		> 200 ≤ 2000 Harmful

The numerical values on the hazard index scale in the table are not to scale.

As another example using the classification for flammable

 The numerical values on the hazard index scale in the table are not to scale.
Both examples from "A Guide to The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) "

All single substances including mixtures that have one active substance which is diluted with inert substances have to be classified using CLP from 1st December 2010 all other mixtures have to be classified with CLP from 1st June 2015. It is up to the supplier, of mixtures with more than one active substance, whether to use CLP classifications, on labels, before 1st June 2015, in which case both CHIP and CLP classifications have to be shown.

GHS is the UN framework for a Globally Harmonised System on hazardous materials. The idea is to have a chemical classified the same around the world, as at the moment a chemical could be classified as toxic in the one country, hazardous in another country and non hazardous in yet another country.

Within the EU only the classifications that closely correspond to the current CHP classes have been implemented, unfortunately there is not a direct correlation between some of the CHIP classes and the new CLP classifications categories, any software or advisor will need to calculate how harmful the chemical is independently.  Be wary of any solution that offers the comparison matrix as a solution.

Most classification categories will have a pictogram (icon) of the hazard and a signal word (danger, warning or blank). Most of the pictograms are similar to the CHIP pictures, except the “Xn/Xi” has been replaced with an explanation mark, and the orange/brown background has been replaced by a white diamond with a red border.

CLP pictograms