Hi everyone.
Can anyone tell me if there is any written info on the location of Safety Data Sheets and who is responsible to maintain them?
I think they should be kept in the stores where the item is located and controlled by the store man who orders and receives the store, individuals read and sign the to say they have read the work plan/ risk assessment and Safety Data sheet before items is removed from the store.

Many Thanks

The SDS are only useful to those who write the COSHH assessments. I can't believe anyone else ever bothers to read them as most are like watching paint dry and would make little sense to those without the knowledge to understand them. They should be kept either by the person who procures products or the stores foreman if they are not same person.

Some msds are 20+ pages long now, and all of them contain reams of abstruse technical and regulatory information - for most people, reading them isn't helpful at all. They also cause confusion and conflict because the supplier invariably gives advice to the effect "wear full PPE including space suit" to cover themselves whereas your COSHH assessment, based on the task as well as the substance, may well say something else.

What people need is clear information about the hazards of the materials and the precautions to take when using them. Sometimes looking at the label will be enough, sometimes a written procedure or simple information sheet is needed.

If a written risk assessment is being provided then this should contain all the relevant information extracted from the msds anyway.

It doesn't matter who looks after them or where they are kept, whatever is most practical in your organisation, so long as they are available on the rare occasions when they are needed: COSHH assessment; sending someone to hospital after an exposure; someone else like the fire service or a client or contractor asking for them.

Do you seriously believe that the users actually do read the msds? All of it? "Sheet" is a misnomer for these lengthy documents.

Compliant with CHIP!
Safety data sheets are just one of the sources of data for the risk assessment to meet the requirements of the Management of Health and Safety at Work and COSHH regulations. Since they only refer to what is being supplied - and then only contain limited data - which can be very different from what is being used, they are rarely relevant for the end user. The end user should have access to the risk assessment for the individual task. This should explain the hazards of the chemicals as they are being used and what actions they should take to ensure their safety.

"... only contain limited data...". As an example I can quote you a number of chemicals that are well known to dermatologists as skin sensitisers but that have not been classified as R43 and will therefore not appear as such on a safety data sheet. And wet work is still the most common cause of occupational contact dermatitis.

Chris

In the context of advice from the HSE, perhaps these two extracts from their Topic Inspection Pack, Work Related Contact Dermatitis, Skin Disease Programme, are relevant:

1.
“HSE’s experience suggests that a large proportion of SDSs do not provide adequate or correct information on hazards and exposure controls.”
2.
“Nevertheless, product suppliers have a legal responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act to provide adequate information about any risks to health or safety of the users and about any conditions necessary to ensure that the products can be used safely”

The reference is to section 6-1 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. which require the supplier to provide information over and above what is provided in the safety data sheet.

It is essential for valid risk assessment for chemicals in a workplace that we recognise that when we use chemicals we frequently change their properties. We may mix, react, contaminate, dilute, heat, oxidise, etc. the original product, such that a completely different set of hazards exist for that particular task. Our risk assessment must be based on the real hazard arising out of the use of the chemical. Merely relying on the safety data sheet (that is provided for CHIP, not COSHH) can lead to an invalid risk assessmemt.

Chris

There seem to be a few people on this forum who could use a big dose of CPD, since the MSDS transferred from CHIP to REACH it became the SDS.

A COSHH assessment is effectively a Risk Assessment of the use of the substance in any particular situation or operation.

The SDS details much more additional information that may be required in the event of an emergency such toxicology, first aid measures & Firefighting measures all of which would not necessarily apppear on a COSHH Assessment.

Therefore the SDS should be located near to the point of use, think of the scenario where somebody inadvertantly swallows a substance, the container labels is either disfigured or worn away - how are the medical team to treat that person correctly without the information contained on the SDS.

Thats my pennies worth - so I have now thown the social hand grenade

"A COSHH assessment is effectively a Risk Assessment of the use of the substance in any particular situation or operation."

I completely agree. Where I differ is that when we use the substance, frequently a mixture, we may well change its properties. As a result the hazard in use may be very different to that stated on the safety data sheet. Thus the safety data sheet may well not give us the relevant information, either for the risk assessment or for the action needed in an emergency.

As a very simple example, the oil extracted from the peel of citrus fruits, often used as a degreaser, is a defatting agent and thus a skin irritant. It is not classified as a sensitiser (R43/H317), nor will this be indicated on the safety data sheet. However, if exposed to the atmosphere for any length of time oxidisation will result in the presence in the oil of potent sensitisers.

I also know of at least one case where large quantities of rags, soaked in this oil, were dumped in a skip. The oxidisation resulted in a fire within the skip. Yet the oil is not, itself, classified as flammable!

Moreover, several studies have shown that many safety data sheets are inaccurate, so treat them with caution.

Chris

Thomo,

If you are working in the UK then the storeman has to comply with carriage of dangerous goods legislation etc

If you are working abroad, especially outwith the continental shelf then you may find it hard to locate legislation to support you.

Agreed you should approach the OIM