Malaysia Consults on Amendments to Industry Code of Practice on Chemicals Classification and Hazard Communication

On September 6, 2023, Malaysia’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) released proposed amendments to the Part 2 and Part 3 of the Industry Code of Practices on Chemicals Classification and Hazard Communication 2014 (ICOP CHC 2014). The deadline for submitting opinions is November 10, 2023.

The ICOP is a legally binding document for chemical suppliers to comply with the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (Classification, Labelling and Safety Data Sheet of Hazardous Chemicals) Regulations (CLASS Regulations) 2013 and guides industries on chemical classification and hazard communication for chemicals used in the workplace.

The ICOP consists of four parts:

• Part 1: List of Classified Chemicals

• Part 2: Chemicals Classification

• Part 3: Hazard Communication: Labelling and SDS

• Part 4: Confidential Business Information (CBI)

An amendment to Part 1 was published in 2019, which only affects the List of Classified Chemicals. The updated list contains the GHS classifications for 662 substances, adding the GHS classification of more than 400 substances to the previously classified 229 substances. The amendments to Parts 2 and 3 were still in the early discussion at that time. After thorough review and consideration, the proposal for amendments to ICOP Parts 2 and 3 are now open for public comments.

Classification

Regarding the Part 2 for classification, the proposed amendments mainly focus on correcting and updating the definitions and guidance on classifications for the following hazard classes:

• Physical hazards: Explosives, Flammable gases, Flammable liquids, Flammable solids, Oxidizing gases, Oxidizing solids, Gases under pressure, Self-reactive chemicals, Pyrophoric liquids, Oxidizing gases, Oxidizing solids, Organic peroxides, Substances corrosive to metal

• Health Hazards: Skin corrosion or irritation, Serious eye damage or eye irritation, Respiratory sensitization, Skin sensitization, Germ cell mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, Reproductive toxicity, Specific target organ toxicity-single exposure, Specific target organ toxicity-repeat exposure, Aspiration toxicity 

• Environmental Hazards: Hazardous to the aquatic environment, Hazardous to the ozone layer 

Labeling

In terms of labeling, the proposed amendments 

• Introduce new label examples for substance and mixture

• Introduce an example on fold-out label

• Introduce a new appendix for guidance on the selection of precautionary statements for labelling

SDS

The main updates to SDS preparation are as follows.