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On December 30, 2022, by MoEL Notice No. 2022-566, South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) released the list of registered and assessed new substances in 2022 Q4 under K-OSHA. It contains the corresponding information, including chemical name, hazards, annual quantity, precautionary measures that must be taken to guarantee workers’ health, etc. Details can be accessed here.
The list includes 61 substances, of which 24 are considered to have the following hazards, i.e., carcinogenicity, germ cell mutagenicity, skin corrosion/irritation, acute toxicity, hazardous to the aquatic environment, etc. The chemical hazards are determined according to the MoEL Public Notice No.2020-130 based on the toxicity data submitted by registrants. The hazards and risks should be indicated on MSDS and displayed in the workplace. For some new substances, although there are no hazards indicated in the list, in consideration of long or short-term exposure, employers still need to provide basic measures to protect workers’ health.
Background In South Korea, companies should register new chemical substances under both K-REACH and K-OSHA prior to manufacture or import activities. K-REACH covers all new chemical substances regardless of quantities while under K-OSHA new substances < 0.1 t/y are exempt from registration. The Ministry of Environment (MoE) is responsible for K-REACH registration and passes the data required under K-OSHA to the MoEL for assessment. The MoEL and the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) under MoE periodically publish the list of registered new chemical substances under K-OSHA and K-REACH respectively. The last update by the MoEL was on September 30, 2022 (see MoEL Notice No.2022-404). |
