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On December 9, 2020, South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) published a list of 254 new chemical substances that have been registered and assessed under the Occupational Safety and Health Act[1] (OSHA) in 2020, of which 86 were identified as hazardous.
The MoEL provided the chemical name, CAS No., hazards and annual volume of the new chemical substances, as well as corresponding precautionary measures, such as wearing personal protective equipment, using ventilating equipment, etc. The list can be accessed here[2] (MOEL Announcement No.2020-472).
In South Korea, new chemical substances should be registered under both K-REACH[3] and OSHA prior to manufacture or import activities. K-REACH covers all new chemical substances regardless of quantities while OSHA exempts new chemical substances in quantities of less than 100kg a year. Following the revision of OSHA Enforcement Rules[4] on January 31, 2019, manufacturers or importers of new chemical substances are eased from unnecessary duplicate submissions under the two regulations. By inter-agency cooperation the MoE (competent authority for K-REACH implementation) will pass the set of data required by OSHA to the MoEL for assessment.
The MoEL and the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) periodically publish the list of registered new chemical substances under OSHA and K-REACH respectively.
l For MoEL’s list, the manufacturers or importers are required to indicate the chemical hazards and risks on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and display relevant information in the workplace. Although for some substances there are no hazards displayed in the list, in consideration of long/short-term exposure to the substances, employees should provide basic measures to protect workers’ health. For previous updates, please search "신규화학물질" here [5].
l For NIER’s list, the new substances registered under K-REACH will be issued with hazard evaluation results. The new substances will be further designated into the Toxic Chemical Substances List if identified as toxic. The previous updates are accessible here[6].
