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Free course · Beginner · 3 h 30 min · v1.0

HazCom & GHS Fundamentals

The written program, GHS labels, the eight pictograms and all sixteen sections of a safety data sheet — free and self-paced

Start the courseSee the outline
This course is an optional step of the Warehouse & Forklift Operator — Learning Path — take it when the work calls for it.
This course is step 3 of 3 in the New Safety Coordinator — Learning Path, which puts the free courses on this site in a reading order.
Not OSHA-authorized training. This free course is a study aid. It does not satisfy any OSHA or regulatory training requirement and no certificate or card is issued. Your employer's training program comes first.

Hazard Communication was the second most frequently cited OSHA standard in fiscal year 2025, behind only fall protection. That is not because chemicals are exotic — it is because almost every workplace has them, almost every workplace is covered, and the standard asks for four things at once: a written program, labels, safety data sheets and training. There are four ways to come up short. This free, self-paced course works through all four, in the order they actually get used. Part 1 covers who classifies a chemical, what the written program must contain and when training is triggered. Part 2 takes apart a GHS label element by element, including the eight hazard symbols of mandatory Appendix C and the precedence rules that decide which pictogram appears. Part 3 walks all sixteen sections of a safety data sheet, including the four OSHA states it will not enforce. Part 4 is the floor: secondary containers, storage and segregation, the line between an incidental release and an emergency response, and the way silica, lead and asbestos all plug into this one program. Every figure and every rule is quoted from the paragraph it comes from, with a link so you can read it yourself.

What you will be able to do

  • Say who classifies a chemical, and why an employer may rely on that classification
  • Write the three required elements of a hazard communication program, including the two most often missing
  • Read a GHS label element by element and explain what each one adds
  • Recognize the eight hazard symbols and apply the four precedence rules of Appendix C
  • Find any of the sixteen safety data sheet sections by number, and say which four OSHA does not enforce
  • Turn a safety data sheet into a glove, ventilation and storage decision — and know where the sheet stops
  • Label a secondary container correctly, and state exactly when the immediate-use exception applies
  • Decide whether a spill is an incidental release or an emergency response, using the definition that governs

Course outline

Part 1

The right to know and the written program

What the standard is trying to do and who it covers, who classifies a chemical and against what criteria, the three elements of the written program, and the two triggers that require training.

  1. 1.1 What HazCom is for, and who it covers13 min
  2. 1.2 Who decides a chemical is hazardous12 min
  3. 1.3 The written program, element by element12 min
  4. 1.4 Information, training and the two triggers11 min
  5. Part 1 quiz5 questions
Part 2

Labels, pictograms and hazard statements

The six elements of a shipped label, how a pictogram is built and why there are eight symbols, the two signal words and the four types of precautionary statement, and the labels you apply yourself.

  1. 2.1 The six elements of a shipped label11 min
  2. 2.2 Pictograms: eight symbols and four precedence rules10 min
  3. 2.3 Signal words, hazard statements, precautionary statements10 min
  4. 2.4 Workplace labeling: the labels you apply11 min
  5. Part 2 quiz5 questions
Part 3

The safety data sheet and its sixteen sections

How sheets arrive and what readily accessible actually means, the eight working sections, the eight back sections including the four OSHA does not enforce, and turning a sheet into a decision.

  1. 3.1 Getting sheets, keeping them, and the three-month clock12 min
  2. 3.2 Sections 1 to 8: the working half11 min
  3. 3.3 Sections 9 to 16, and the four OSHA does not enforce10 min
  4. 3.4 Reading a sheet for a decision11 min
  5. Part 3 quiz5 questions
Part 4

On the floor: containers, storage and spills

Secondary containers and the immediate-use exception, storage and segregation from sections 7, 9 and 10, the incidental release line, and the elements of the program that reach non-routine tasks, pipes and other employers.

  1. 4.1 Secondary containers and the immediate-use exception11 min
  2. 4.2 Storage, segregation and where HazCom hands off10 min
  3. 4.3 Spills: incidental release or emergency response12 min
  4. 4.4 Non-routine tasks, pipes and other employers11 min
  5. Part 4 quiz5 questions
Final exam
20 questions · about 20 minutes
Go to the exam

Who it's for: Anyone who handles chemicals at work — construction trades, manufacturing and warehouse crews, maintenance, janitorial and facilities staff — plus foremen, supervisors and anyone who has to write or maintain a hazard communication program.

Frequently asked questions

No. No card, certificate or credential is issued here and nothing is downloadable at the end. This is free self-paced learning you can use before or after the training your employer provides.

No. SteelToeTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorized by OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor. Every requirement in this course is quoted from the paragraph it comes from, with a link so you can read it yourself.

No. 1910.1200(h) puts that duty on your employer, and much of it has to be specific to your work area: the chemicals actually present, your labeling system, your controls and where your safety data sheets are kept. Use this course to prepare, to review, and to check what you were told against the standard.

Under OSHA's standard, eight. Mandatory Appendix C, paragraph C.2.3.2, states that one of eight standard hazard symbols shall be used in each pictogram. The ninth symbol people remember — the environment pictogram — belongs to the wider United Nations GHS and appears nowhere in OSHA's mandatory appendix, because environmental hazards are outside OSHA's jurisdiction. A supplier may print it; OSHA does not require it.

No. 1910.1200(h)(1) triggers training at the time of initial assignment and whenever a new chemical hazard employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Many employers train annually as a matter of policy, and that is a good practice, but it is not what this standard requires. Some substance-specific standards do set an annual interval — asbestos at 1926.1101(k)(9)(ii) and lead at 1926.62(l)(1)(iv), for example.

Yes throughout. 29 CFR 1926.59 adopts 1910.1200 for construction work, so the written program, labels, safety data sheets and training are identical. Where a related construction standard differs from its general industry counterpart — flammable liquid storage, exposure limits — the course names both.

About 3 hours 30 minutes: sixteen chapters of 10 to 13 minutes, four 5-question part quizzes and a 20-question final exam. Your progress is stored in your own browser, so you can stop and come back.

Sources & references

Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 29, 2026.

Not OSHA-authorized training. SteelToeTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor. This free educational content does not satisfy any OSHA or other regulatory training requirement, and no card, certificate, or credential is issued. Only OSHA-authorized trainers can deliver OSHA Outreach Training (10-Hour and 30-Hour) and issue DOL cards. Always follow your employer's training program and applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

By — Editorial team of SteelToeTools.com (published by LSEA SAS) Updated v1.0