Globally Harmonized SystemGHS

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals — GHS, the United Nations Purple Book — is the standard that gives every chemical the same hazard classes, the same label elements, and the same 16-section safety data sheet across every country that adopts it, so a chemical classified as flammable in one jurisdiction carries the same pictogram and the same signal word when it crosses a border. The hazard classes split into physical (flammable, gases under pressure, explosives), health (acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity), and environmental (aquatic toxicity, ozone layer), and the label carries the pictogram, the signal word Danger or Warning, the hazard statement, and the precautionary statement. The point is that the worker and the emergency responder read the same hazard in the same language on every label.

GHS is a framework, not a law — each jurisdiction adopts it into its own regulation, and the adoption is not uniform. OSHA adopted GHS into HazCom 2012 under 29 CFR 1910.1200, with the US building-specific revisions; the EU adopted it into the CLP Regulation (EC 1272/2008); and other jurisdictions adopted it with their own cut-offs and mandatory substance lists. The practical effect for a manufacturer is that the same chemical can carry a different signal word or a different SDS section in different markets, and the QEHS system that holds the SDS has to hold the jurisdiction-specific version, not a single global one. The 16-section SDS is the part that is most consistent, and it is the document a worker, a first responder, and an industrial hygienist all read. See SDS and HazCom.