title: Hazard banding in compliance with the new Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for use in control banding tools.
abstract: Many control banding tools use hazard banding in risk assessments for the occupational handling of hazardous substances. The outcome of these assessments can be combined with advice for the required risk management measures (RMMs). The Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) has resulted in a change in the hazard communication elements, i.e. Hazard (H) statements instead of Risk-phrases. Hazard banding schemes that depend on the old form of safety information have to be adapted to the new rules. The purpose of this publication is to outline the rationales for the assignment of hazard bands to H statements under the GHS. Based on this, this publication proposes a hazard banding scheme that uses the information from the safety data sheets as the basis for assignment. The assignment of hazard bands tiered according to the severity of the underlying hazards supports the important principle of substitution. Additionally, the set of assignment rules permits an exposure-route-specific assignment of hazard bands, which is necessary for the proposed route-specific RMMs. Ideally, all control banding tools should apply the same assignment rules. This GHS-compliant hazard banding scheme can hopefully help to establish a unified hazard banding strategy in the various control banding tools.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Alte Heerstr. 111, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany. Electronic address: mario.arnone@dguv.de.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arnone
authors.affiliation: Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Alte Heerstr. 111, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany.
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koppisch
authors.affiliation: Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Alte Heerstr. 111, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Smola
authors.affiliation: Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Alte Heerstr. 111, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.affiliation: Cosanta B.V., Laan van Kronenburg 14, 1183 AS Amstelveen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Verbist
authors.affiliation: TNO, Post Box 155, 2600 AD Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Visser
mesh_terms: D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016272:Occupational Health; D011356:Product Labeling / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods; D012449:Safety
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances
keywords: COSHH essentials; Control banding tools; Globally Harmonised System (GHS); H statements; Hazard banding; Hazardous substances; Principle of substitution; Risk assessment; Stoffenmanager(®)