A chemical manufacturer packaged buffer and reagent chemicals in tiny plastic "powder pillows" (under 5 ml) and used OSHA's small-package practical accommodation, printing the product identifier, signal word, pictogram, company name, and phone number on each pillow. Facing capacity constraints, the company wanted to ship unlabeled pillows in bulk to a second company facility, where they would be labeled before going out to customers. It asked OSHA whether HCS labels could wait until after the intra-company shipment.
OSHA said no. Under the Hazard Communication Standard, employers must ensure "each container of hazardous chemicals leaving the workplace is labeled, tagged, or marked" per 29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(1)(i)-(vi). The small-package accommodation can be applied to immediate containers only when the outside packaging carries all applicable label elements before leaving the originating facility, so shipping unlabeled immediate containers between plants is not compliant.
The company had pointed to joint DOT/OSHA guidance that allows DOT labels on exterior shipping containers for bulk shipments, but OSHA explained that this only covers "bulk shipments of hazardous chemicals that are loaded into large primary containers (i.e., tanker trucks or rail car) that have no intermediate form of containment." Because the powder pillows are immediate or intermediate containers, each one requires compliant HCS labeling before shipment.