Changes To COSHH

You may have probably heard rumours about changes to how chemicals are classified and labelled. You may have heard people using terms such as ‘GI-IS’, ‘CLP’ or the ‘OLP Regulation’. These are all terms referring to changes to the law on how chemicals are classified and labelled.

Under these changes we will see changes to hazard labels. A new European regulation on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures — known as the GLP Regulation — is already in force in the UK and all other countries in the European Union. Over a period of time the CLP Regulation will replace the existing system of classification, labelling and packaging.

The CLP Regulation will mean:

Changes to how chemicals are classified, primarily the changes will result in newly designed hazard symbols; called ‘pictograms’.

New wording to help you understand the hazards that are in the chemical you are using and how to use it safely (‘hazard statements’ and ‘precautionary statements).

Chemical suppliers can apply the new CLP Regulation now, so you might start to see these changes.

The new pictograms are a slightly different shape and in different colours.

Current symbols are shown in the table below: