Alliance Program's Small Business Roundtable

Representatives from 18 Alliances met on February 15, 2005, to discuss the development of hazard communication compliance assistance resources. The roundtable included an update from Jennifer Silk, the deputy director of Directorate of Standards and Guidance, on OSHA's Hazard Communication Initiative. The group then identified specific hazard communication issues to discuss further and broke into workgroups to identify outreach and compliance assistance projects they would be interested in working on together.

As a result of the meeting, the attendees agreed to work together to address several issues:

As an outcome of the roundtable, the GHS workgroup was established. The group met to discuss developing compliance assistance tools and other resources

Representatives from the following Alliance Program participants attended the meeting:

Alliance Program participant representatives with Special Assistant Kim Lazor at the February 15, 2005, Hazard Communication Alliance Roundtable

Alliance Program participant representatives with Chief of Staff Kim Lazor at the February 15, 2005, Hazard Communication Alliance Roundtable

Promoting the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) Workgroup, August 1, 2005

The Promoting the GHS Workgroup met on August 1, 2005 to discuss the development and distribution of resources to promote the GHS to small business in anticipation of OSHA's revising its hazard communication standard (HCS) to adopt the GHS. As a result of the meeting, the workgroup identified the need for developing the following four publications:

Representatives from the following Alliances are participating on the Promoting the GHS workgroup:

Promoting the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) Workgroup, October 25, 2006

The Promoting the GHS Workgroup met on October 25, 2006 to discuss the compliance assistance elements of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) that was published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2006 announcing OSHA's intention to adopt the GHS as part of the Agency's hazard communication standard.

During the meeting, the Workgroup participants identified compliance assistance tools and products to educate the public, particularly small businesses, about the GHS. They also provided recommendations on the target audiences, subjects and formats of and methods for distributing the information. Meeting participants included safety and health professionals from trade and professional associations, government agencies and corporations.

Representatives from the following Alliances attended the Promoting the GHS Workgroup meeting: