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KOSHA Prepares for MSDS System Implementation from Next Year
Safety and Health Research Institute Distributes MSDS Guide Videos and Leaflets

Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] As the government strengthens management of chemical substances harmful to workers' health starting next year, notable materials have emerged to fulfill the right to know for workers handling hazardous and dangerous chemicals.

The Industrial Safety and Health Act has been fully revised, changing the entities responsible for preparing Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and the required items, establishing submission obligations and non-disclosure approval clauses, effective January 16, 2021.

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency's Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (Director Ko Jae-cheol) has produced and begun distributing MSDS system guidance videos and leaflets to help employers and workers understand and smoothly implement the system.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are manuals for the safe use of chemical substances. They consist of 16 items including information on chemical hazards and risks, emergency measures, and handling methods.

With the revision of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, ▲ to manufacture or import MSDS-subject substances, an MSDS containing the names and content amounts of hazardous and dangerous chemicals must be prepared and submitted to the agency in advance.

If the chemical names and content amounts are not to be listed in the MSDS due to trade secrets, approval must be obtained from the Minister of Employment and Labor, and substitute names and content amounts must be recorded instead.

Previously, MSDS were provided only to recipients of the target chemical substances, and the chemical names in the MSDS composition section could be arbitrarily withheld as trade secrets by workplaces, potentially leading to incomplete disclosure.

However, this restricted workers' right to know and made it difficult for the government to grasp the status of distributed chemicals to prevent and respond to occupational diseases.

The Research Institute has produced two types of videos and leaflets explaining the new MSDS enforcement system, which can be accessed on the agency's chemical substance information website and official YouTube channel (channel name: Safety and Health Agency Angelie).

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the agency plan to build and analyze chemical product data based on submitted MSDS to utilize it for establishing chemical substance management policies and preventing industrial accidents in the future.

Ko Jae-cheol, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, said, “We hope this leaflet and videos will help understand the revised MSDS system,” and added, “We will do our best to ensure smooth implementation of the MSDS submission and substitute data review system.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.