Hazard Communication Standard
OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard, aligned with the UN's Globally Harmonized System of chemical classification, requiring properly labeled containers, accessible [[concept-safety-data-sheet|Safety Data Sheets]], and worker training for any hazardous chemical present on a jobsite, regardless of which company brought it there.
Why it matters
The standard applies to every hazardous chemical on a shared jobsite, not just the ones a company brings itself, so a general contractor's HazCom compliance depends on every subcontractor's chemicals being properly labeled and documented too.
On a real project
A subcontractor bringing a solvent-based adhesive onto a jobsite provides its Safety Data Sheet to the general contractor's site office and ensures the container itself carries a GHS-compliant label before any worker uses it.
Who this matters most to
A Safety Manager maintains the jobsite's SDS system and trains crews on reading labels and safety data sheets for whatever hazardous chemicals are actually present that week.
Where this goes wrong
A worker mixes an unlabeled solvent left behind by another trade with a cleaning product to strip a stubborn adhesive residue, not realizing the two are chemically incompatible, and the combination produces a burst of fumes strong enough to force the area to be evacuated. Because the solvent was never labeled or documented on an SDS as the standard requires, no one on site had any way to know the two products shouldn't be combined.