Human Rights & Social Sustainability
Chemical hazard
The intrinsic capacity of a chemical to cause harm — classified globally under the GHS into physical, health and environmental hazard classes.
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The inherent property of a chemical that makes it capable of causing adverse effects to human health or the environment. Under the UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), hazards are classified into physical classes (explosives, flammables, oxidisers, gases under pressure, corrosives), health classes (acute toxicity, skin/eye corrosion and irritation, sensitisation, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, specific target organ toxicity, aspiration) and environmental classes (aquatic toxicity, ozone hazard).
References
OSHA HazCom/GHS classification into physical and health hazards; labels, pictograms, signal words, SDS.
UN GHS adoption (2003); US alignment via HazCom standard.
Overview
What it means
Hazard is not risk: a highly hazardous substance sealed in a process may pose low risk, while a moderately hazardous one used carelessly can be dangerous — the hazard × exposure distinction underlies all chemical-safety policy.
The GHS (adopted by the UN in 2003) harmonised how hazards are communicated: classification criteria, labels with pictograms and signal words, and Safety Data Sheets; the US implements it through OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910. 1200), and the EU through CLP. Hazard classification is the gatekeeper for restriction lists (REACH SVHCs, SIN List) and substitution programmes.
How it is used
Employers run hazard-communication programmes with labels and SDSs; product stewards screen formulations against hazard lists; sustainability teams feed hazard classes into footprint and substitution metrics; regulators set classification-driven controls.
Why it matters
Hazard classification is the operating system of chemical safety — the common language in which workplaces, regulators and supply chains agree what can harm people and ecosystems.
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