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On September 30, 2022, South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) published the new chemical substances recently registered and assessed under OSHA (Given No.22-22-124~22-22-207). The chemical name, CAS No., hazards and annual volume of the new chemical substances, as well as their corresponding precautionary measures that must be taken to guarantee workers’ health can be accessed here[1] (MOEL Announcement No.2022-404).
The chemical hazards are determined according to the MoEL Public Notice No.2020-130 Standards for Classification and Labelling of Chemical Substances and Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)[2] 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, employees still need to provide basic measures to protect workers’ health.
In South Korea, companies should register new chemical substances under both K-REACH and OSHA prior to manufacture or import activities. K-REACH covers all new chemical substances regardless of quantities while under OSHA new substances<0.1t/y are exempt from registration. The Ministry of Environment (MoE) is responsible for K-REACH registration and passes the data required under 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 OSHA and K-REACH respectively.
For MoEL’s list, the previous updates can be accessed by searching "신규화학물질" here [3].
For NIER’s list, the new substances registered under K-REACH are issued in batches associated with hazard evaluation results. The new substances will be further designated into the Toxic Chemical Substances List if identified as toxic. The last update was made by MoE Announcement No.2022-47 on August 23, 2022. The previous updates are accessible here[4].
