The safety data sheet is the most important document in chemical safety - are you using it correctly?

This article is part of Protect's Chemical Safety series of articles on how companies can develop safe and responsible practices in handling chemicals. In this part, we take a look at what a safety data sheet contains, who is responsible for it - and how to put its information to use in your day-to-day work.

The Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is the foundation of chemical safety in the workplace - a document that explains how to handle a chemical safely and the risks involved. In many companies, the information sheets remain on file, when they should be easily accessible to everyone who uses the chemical.

The Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is the main source of information on chemical safety. It provides information on the hazards, exposures and safe handling of a chemical.

It enables employers to assess the risks associated with their own business, to purchase the right personal protective equipment and to familiarise workers with the risks of chemicals.

A safety data sheet must be available for all chemicals used in the workplace, although it is only mandatory for substances and mixtures classified as dangerous and for products containing dangerous components.

How is this done in your country - are safety data sheets easy to find?

The safety data sheet follows the structure of Annex II of the EU REACH Regulation and contains 16 main sections, such as the identification of the chemical, hazard identification, composition, and instructions for safe storage, handling and first aid.
In practice, the safety data sheet contains all relevant information about the risks of the chemical and how to handle it safely in the workplace.

More information on the content and requirements of safety data sheets can also be found on the websites of Tukes and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Safety data sheets are not just meant to be kept - their information should be actively used as part of a company's chemical safety and risk management.
Their information is essential in situations such as:

• the procurement and evaluation of chemicals before they are used
• (VAK) for the transport of dangerous goods
• employee induction and training
• planning first aid preparedness and exposure assessments
• environmental risk assessment and emergency preparedness
• for accident risk assessment and as a basis for maintaining the inventory of chemicals.

The employer is always responsible for ensuring that risk assessments have been carried out and that workers have been trained in the safe use of chemicals.

Let the experts at Protect help you ensure chemical safety. We also organise company-specific training on chemical safety issues.

The safety data sheet is always provided by the manufacturer, importer or supplier of the chemical. The safety data sheet must be supplied free of charge to the customer on delivery, either in paper or electronic format. The safety data sheet is always provided to the company in the language used by the company.

If the safety data sheet is provided as a link, it must be direct and permanent and must not require a login. The link shall lead directly to the fact sheet for the chemical concerned.

The responsibility for preparing and keeping up-to-date a safety data sheet lies with the person who places the chemical on the market - the manufacturer, importer orprivate label supplier. This responsibility is not removed even if the preparation of the information document is outsourced to an expert.

The safety data sheet must always be kept up to date. It must be updated without delay if:

• new information on the hazards or safe use of the chemical becomes available
• the composition or classification of the product changes
• regulatory requirements are updated.

An updated safety data sheet must be provided to all customers to whom the chemical has been supplied in the previous 12 months. The date and version number must be shown on each safety data sheet so that its currency can be easily verified.

The company should consult the safety data sheets and determine on the basis of these, for example:

• correct personal protective equipment and working practices
• storage and disposal practices
• measures in case of spills and accidents.

The safety data sheet may also be accompanied by an exposure scenario describing the conditions under which the chemical can be safely used.

The company must check whether its own working conditions and working practices correspond to these scenarios. If their own use is not included in the exposure scenarios, they can, for example, contact the author of the SSC and ask them to add the desired scenario, change their own conditions of use to match the scenarios or replace the substance with another equivalent.

Are there questions about chemical safety permits? Contact us!

When there are a lot of chemicals and bulletins, managing information through folders can be cumbersome.
The PRO24 system makes chemical management more systematic and efficient.

It allows a company to, for example:

• maintain the register of chemicals and the KTT on a single platform
• provide employees with direct links to information on the list of chemicals
• carry out chemical-specific risk assessments
• prevent exposure through the right protective instructions

With digitally managed information, chemical safety is easy to maintain.

Learn about PRO24 chemical management

Contact us - together we will make sure that chemical safety is in order.