Chemical Hazard Assessments

Chemical Hazard Assessments (CHAs) are critical for understanding the safety and sustainability of the chemicals used in your products and processes. They help companies evaluate chemicals comprehensively and make informed decisions to minimize risks and maximize sustainability.

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What is a Chemical Hazard Assessment?

Let’s start with the basics – what is a CHA?

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Why do CHAs matter?

Why do Chemical Hazard Assessments play a critical role in chemical management

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Overcoming CHA challenges

Learn more about the key challenges of Chemical Hazard Assessment

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GHS+ CHA framework

Globally Harmonized System (GHS) and Chemical Hazard Assessment

What is a Chemical Hazard Assessment (CHA)?

Chemical Hazard Assessments (CHAs) are fundamental to evaluating chemical risks linked to products and processes, enabling businesses to make safer and more sustainable choices in chemical management.

CHAs evaluate the potential for a chemical to have negative effects on human health, such as causing cancer or allergies, and on the environment. Unlike list screenings, which identify chemicals of concern based on limited criteria, CHAs delve deeper into a chemical’s intrinsic properties to assess factors including toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation. This approach provides a comprehensive understanding of potential hazards beyond the data in a standard Safety Data Sheet.

Whether you’re aiming to meet regulatory compliance, protect workers and customers, or reduce your environmental impact, understanding and conducting CHAs is essential for effective and responsible chemical management.

hand of traces of plastic and microplastic in petri dish

Frequently Asked Questions about CHAs

Discover how CHAs differ from list screenings and risk assessments in our FAQs on Chemical Hazard Assessments.

Why do Chemical Hazard Assessments matter?

Chemical Hazard Assessments play a critical role in chemical management — going beyond list screening alone — by providing detailed insights into the hazards associated with chemical use. By conducting CHAs, you can:

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Protect your workers and customers

  • Identify hazards to human health and make safer chemical choices
  • Create products and processes to meet the highest safety standards
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Go beyond regulatory compliance

  • Stay ahead of rapidly changing sustainability requirements
  • Understand regulatory drivers and anticipate future regulations
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Safeguard environmental health

  • Reduce the negative impacts of chemical hazards on the planet 
  • Phase out problematic chemicals for safer, more sustainable alternatives 
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Protect your brand

  • Mitigate risks to avoid reputational damage
  • Build customer trust by demonstrating chemical safety and sustainability

Overcoming challenges in conducting Chemical Hazard Assessments

58% of chemical management professionals struggle with understanding chemical assessment requirements

Enhesa Chemicals Management & Sustainable Chemistry Survey

Traditional CHAs can be complex, costly, and time-consuming, often taking weeks to complete. From list screening to referencing multiple data sources, the process often feels daunting for many companies. Common challenges include:

  • Time-intensive: 79% of companies performing in-house CHAs find them time-consuming
  • Costly: The average CHA costs between USD 3,000 and USD 10,000
  • Complexity: Knowing where to start and gathering reliable data can feel overwhelming
Uttakleiv Beach, Lofoten, Norway

Some of the key challenges for assessing chemicals and how to address them

Learn more about the key challenges of chemical assessments and how to address them 

Our trusted GHS+ framework for Chemical Hazard Assessments

At Enhesa Sustainable Chemistry, we perform CHAs using our proprietary GHS+ Chemical Hazard Assessment framework. This robust process combines the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) standardized criteria with our expert methodologies to deliver precise, actionable results.

Understand the steps, data requirements, criteria, assumptions, and assessor qualifications we implement to generate and maintain a CHA. For an in-depth explanation of our approach, read our guide: How the GHS+ CHA framework works.

ASSESS your chemicals faster and more effectively

Assess your chemicals faster and more effectively

Discover how our solution Chemical Assess can streamline CHAs for your business.  

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