Today is the 30 April 2021 – its GHS time!
New Zealand has adopted the GHS 7 hazardous substances classification system for classifying our hazardous substances.
There are a few things to be aware of:
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- Most of the old classifications correlate to the new ones (correlation chart)
- Some substances may no longer be hazardous is they were 6.1E (acute toxicity) or 6.3B (mild skin irritant)
- Your aerosols may now be considered flammable when they were not before (there is now a 1% threshold rather than the previous 45% for flammable ingredients)
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- Over 5,000 substances have had their approvals revoked (as they are now covered by a Group Standard approval), and you may need to assign a group standard to these if you import or manufacture these
- There is a 4-year transition period for labels and SDS to be updated for substances with existing approvals
- Substances with new approvals (not including substances under a group standard) need to comply now
The Hazardous Substances regulations are not changing, and will still refer to the pre-2021 HSNO classifications that we have known and loved for 20 years
Click the below link to see a recording of the Q&A session that was held by Janet Connochie.
https://youtu.be/to9fVi0nxTY
EPA – New Zealand’s new hazard classification system