Approximately 25 million workers--about one in four in the nation's work force--are exposed to one or more chemical hazards. There are an estimated 575,000 existing chemical products, and hundreds of new ones are being introduced annually.

Constant continual chemical exposure may cause or contribute to many serious health effects such as heart ailments, kidney and lung damage, sterility, cancer, burns, and rashes. Some chemicals may also be safety hazards and have the potential to cause fires and explosions and other serious accidents.

Due to the seriousness of these safety and health problems, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created a standard known as, "Hazard Communication" (29 CFR 1910.1200), or commonly referred to as "Right-To-Know" law. The purpose of this standard is to reduce the incidence of chemical source illnesses and injuries.

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) is a system for standardizing and harmonizing the classification and labeling of chemicals. It is a logical and comprehensive approach to:

• Defining health, physical and environmental hazards of chemicals;
• Creating classification processes that use available data on chemicals for comparison with the . defined hazard criteria; and
• Communicating hazard information, as well as protective measures, on labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

OSHA requires that all employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplace inform employees on these new label elements and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) , - formerly known as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) , as part of the GHS revision to the OSHA Hazard Communications Standard. The Safety Data Sheets ( SDS ) on this site complies with this updated requirement .