Washington — Updates to Environmental Protection Agency opinions of recent chemical compounds underneath the Toxic Substances Control Act will strengthen worker protections, an company official says.

Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, mentioned the adjustments throughout a June 26 convention centered on TSCA reform.

EPA is including regulatory language requiring staff, contractors and their representatives to have entry to producers’ consent orders after the company makes a threat dedication on a brand new chemical. These orders embody safety data and permit producers to proceed “only under the terms of the order, to make sure that human health or the environment are protected,” Freedhoff stated.

EPA will even require consent orders to incorporate written hazard communication applications, labeling, Safety Data Sheets, and worker data and coaching. 

“No one should have to go to work and worry about how the chemicals they use might affect their health,” Freedhoff stated. “Knowledge is power; sure, it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true. Workers will be far better able to protect themselves if they’re empowered with knowledge and training. And for employers, this will help them continue to make worker safety their top priority.”

The TSCA, which was amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the twenty first Century Act, requires EPA to deal with chemical dangers by proposing – inside one yr of a chemical review’s launch – regulatory actions equivalent to coaching, certification, restricted entry and/or ban of economic use, after which settle for public feedback on any proposals.

The Lautenberg Act was signed into legislation in June 2016. Freedhoff stated TSCA reform particularly “has come a long way” since 2021, serving to the company finalize separate bans on the carcinogenic substances asbestos and methylene chloride.

“Writing a rule to manage how a chemical is used is a big task,” Freedhoff stated. “We take our statutory deadlines seriously, but we’re also serious about our obligations to write rules that protect people and support a robust economy. We have to consider all comments, including those from other federal agencies and other EPA programs, and account for what we’ve done in other TSCA rules.

“We’ve made huge strides to protect public health and improve the ways we evaluate the safety of chemicals. But challenges still remain, and how we handle those challenges will determine how effective TSCA is now and in the future.”