USA · OSHA HazCom

OSHA Inspection in 30 Days. Zero Compliant SDS on File.

How a Texas distributor rebuilt 22 SDS to OSHA HazCom 2012 in time for an unannounced workplace inspection.

Products Covered

22 SKUs

Turnaround Time

21 days

Outcome

Inspection passed

Client Background

A privately held specialty chemicals distributor based in Houston, Texas, supplying industrial customers across the Gulf Coast. Roughly 60 active SKUs, with 22 in regular distribution.

The Problem

A routine OSHA notice gave the company 30 days to demonstrate full HazCom compliance, including up-to-date Safety Data Sheets accessible to every employee handling regulated chemicals.

An internal audit revealed that the active SDS library was in the older MSDS pre-GHS format, with several documents over a decade old and some products with no SDS on file at all.

What We Found

  • 12 documents in legacy MSDS format, not OSHA HazCom 2012 / GHS-aligned 16-section structure.
  • 4 active SKUs with no SDS on file in any format.
  • 6 documents missing signal words and pictograms entirely.
  • Training records present but referenced superseded document versions.
  • No central, version-controlled SDS archive — files were spread across email and a shared drive.

Our Process

  1. 1

    Week 1 — Inventory & gap analysis

    Catalogued every active SKU, matched it against existing documentation, and produced a prioritised work list. The 4 missing-SDS products were marked critical.

  2. 2

    Week 2 — Authoring & re-classification

    Re-classified all 22 products under OSHA HazCom 2012. Authored fresh SDS in the 16-section format, with signal words, pictograms, and H/P statements aligned per product.

  3. 3

    Week 3 — Workplace rollout

    Delivered the updated SDS pack with a clean version log, refreshed training references, and a simple workplace-access guide so the documents could be produced for any employee or inspector within seconds.

The Outcome

The OSHA inspection took place on day 28. The inspector reviewed the document archive and on-site accessibility and closed the visit with no citations. The distributor has since adopted a quarterly SDS review cadence.

22

Documents delivered

9

Days under deadline

0

Citations issued

"We went from 'we might get fined' to 'the inspector left happy' in three weeks. That doesn't happen by accident."

Compliance Manager, Houston distributor

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