UN GHS Subcommittee Meeting

NAEGA volunteer Jess McCluer has returned from a very successful trip to Geneva for a meeting of the UN’s Subcommittee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. On top of the agenda was consideration of a non-binding annex on dust explosion hazards developed by the Subcommittee Correspondence Group. Over the past few years the Subcommittee has been considering classifying grain as an explosive material. Development of the non-binding annex was undertaken by the Correspondence Group, on which Jess sits, as a way solution to prevent the classification of grain as explosive. At this meeting the non-binding annex was submitted for consideration and, after some discussion, the annex was provisionally adopted for full consideration of by the UN Transportation of Dangerous Goods and GHS Committee in December. The conclusion of this effort in the Subcommittee means that the U.S. delegation has been prevented from creating a binding chapter to the GH on the classification of combustible dust that would have included whole grain.

A trip report, and more details on these developments, will be available soon.