Chemical/SDS Language Services
Bridging Languages, Safeguarding Chemistry
Enabling Safer Global Commerce
"I use GLTaC for SDS and label translations. I trust their technical expertise. Also, their turnaround time is super fast and their prices are very competitive."
Michelle Baker,
CHMM, CDGP; Product Stewardship Manager
Zeon Chemicals LP
Zeon Chemicals
When it comes to Safety Data Sheet (SDS) translation, GLTaC goes beyond what other Language Service Companies (LSCs) provide through our commitment to client satisfaction, translator qualification, as well as an industry-knowledgeable project management team and support staff.
While our clients expect our work to be done to the highest standard, we have always understood that business success rides on the quality of our work—and so do people’s lives.
How can we be sure our SDS translations are correct and compliant?
Anyone familiar with the Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) field knows how difficult it can be to create a correct, regulatory-compliant SDS in English. At GLTaC, we must take that English SDS and assure it is translated correctly into over 50 languages, with many of those languages having unique requirements based on national hazard communication regulations.
We search diligently for the most knowledgeable, experienced EHS industry experts who are also bilingual. The vast majority of our translation team is currently working in the field and translating for us as well. Some are professional linguists, but regardless of their background, GLTaC requires every translator to pass a rigorous sample translation test. This sample translation consists of a selection of phrases reflecting SDS content, with each phrase sourced to a specific regulatory reference. The translator must correctly translate above 90% for us to have confidence in their abilities.
Our project managers attend training specific to the industry, and GLTaC is the only translation company with long-term membership in the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication (SCHC).
No other translation company puts translations through the review cycle that we do at GLTaC. Several reviewers and editors go through every document following a comprehensive quality assurance process. We compare terminology against hazard communication regulations and maintain over 400 Translation Memories and Termbases derived from EHS standards and laws across the world. We perform automated checks along with manual reviews using a checklist for punctuation, spelling, grammar, numerical consistency, special coding, spacing, capitalization, abbreviations, and technical accuracy.
As the preferred provider of SDS translations to most of the major SDS authoring systems available today, GLTaC can say that our translations appear in over 1,000,000 SDS documents each year worldwide. No other translation company can make that claim.
GHS Revision 7:
OSHA's Final Rule to Amend the Hazard Communication Standard
The time is now to align with Revision 7 of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS).
GHS, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, was developed by the United Nations as a way to bring into agreement the chemical regulations and standards of different countries. GHS includes criteria for the classification of health, physical and environmental hazards, as well as specifying what information should be included on labels of hazardous chemicals as well as safety data sheets.
OSHA has issued a final rule that updates the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to align primarily with the seventh revision of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The final rule was published on May 20, 2024 and takes effect on July 19, 2024.