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Environmental & Risk Management / Material Safety Data Sheets / Objectives

Providing Access to MSDS

Objective

MSDSs provide employees with specific information on the chemicals they use. Not only must a manufacturer provide this information, but a recipient of a hazardous substance must review the MSDS information and handle the substance accordingly. The MSDS must be available to employees in the areas where the material is used and stored.

Solution

In this scenario, the safety and health manager maintains data in the ARCHIBUS MSDS application as well as a hard-copy binder in the manager's office with an MSDS on every substance on the company's list of hazardous materials. The plant manager ensures that each work site maintains MSDSs for the hazardous materials in each work area, and that each employee has immediate access to MSDSs via computer terminal or hard copy. MSDSs are also readily available to employees at their work stations. In the MSDS application, the Review MSDSs process provides several different ways to view MSDS information as different workers have different information requirements. The following procedures describe access to MSDSs for both the safety and health manager and the general employee.

Procedure - General Access

Whether for training or in response to an emergency, an employee should be able to quickly and easily retrieve full details for the MSDS, including access to the manufacturer’s original document. While this information is available in several places, the primary tool for this is the Retrieve MSDS task. With this task, the employee can search the complete MSDS inventory based on whatever information he or she may have.

  1. From the Process Navigator, select the Review MSDSs / Retrieve Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) task.
  2. In the Filter console, enter search criteria to limit the MSDSs shown. Click Show.
  3. You can export the list of MSDSs to Excel by clicking the XLS button.
  4. Select an MSDS in the MSDSs pane.

    The bottom pane shows the Identification tab with information for the selected MSDS.

  5. Click on any of the tabs to see that information for the selected MSDS.

Procedure - Emergency Response

In an emergency, employees or first responders might need access to MSDS information. For example, an employee or an emergency responder might arrive at the scene of an accident or injury involving some chemical without knowing all the details. Maybe they know the exact room, or have narrowed down the number of rooms from which the chemical could have come. In this case, they can enter what they know to get a list of possibilities. On the other hand, if they can clearly identify the product on site and have its name, then they might filter directly to that entry.

  1. From the Process Navigator, select the Review MSDS / Retrieve MSDS task.
  2. Enter search criteria for the MSDS you are looking for, and click Show. For example, you can search by location, product name of chemical name.
  3. Select the MSDS in the MSDSs pane.
  4. The bottom pane shows identifying information for the MSDS.
  5. Select the Document tab.
  6. Click the Document file name to view the MSDS as a PDF.

The bottom pane also includes five tabs of detailed information that provide ready access to the required information simply by clicking on the tab:

Safety planning. In a more typical scenario than the emergent need for information described above, employees would be accessing MSDSs in the development stages of some type of integrated safety planning where they are defining procedures and or processes that use hazardous materials. Access to the information in the MSDS allows the process to be engineered with regard to the specific hazards and requirements of the materials involved in the process.

In this case,the following process could be followed:

  1. Access MSDS. An engineer would use the Retrieve MSDS task to obtain the MSDSs for the materials of interest.
  2. Review MSDS. The engineer would review the data, and include requirements for things such as personal protective equipment, fire protection measures, and evacuation planning.
  3. Print MSDS. Often copies of the MSDSs are incorporated into the written procedure or safety plan. The engineer could use the Print MSDSs task to accomplish this.
  4. Determine if other materials are in close proximity. Another possibility in the planing would be that the engineer might need to know what other hazardous materials are present where the work is to be accomplished. For example one of the materials to be used in the process may indicate that it should not be used in proximity to oxidizing agents. The engineer could review MSDS Constituent Locations to determine if there are potential issues performing the process in the proposed location.

Safety and Health Manager

The safety and health manager, responsible for acquiring and updating MSDSs, might need to contact the chemical manufacturer or vendor if additional research is necessary, or if an MSDS has not been supplied with an initial shipment.

  1. Retrieve contact information. The safety and health can use the Retrieve MSDS report to quickly search for an MSDS for which he requires more information from the manufacturer. The report will show contact information for the manufacturer.
  2. Alternately, he or she might view the MSDS Details by Provider report to retrieve manufacturer contact information.
  3. Creating the master list. Since all new procurements for the company must be cleared by the safety and health manager, this manager is able to keep the master list of MSDSs current. A master list of all MSDSs can be generated using the Retrieve MSDS report and then selecting the XLS button in the MSDS pane.
  4. Creating and verifying label information. In addition to maintaining the inventory of hazardous materials, the safety and health manager is responsible for ensuring that all hazardous chemicals in the plant are properly labeled and updated, as necessary. This requirement applies especially to cases where chemicals may be used or stored in containers other than the ones provided by manufacturers. For example, if the material is being kept in a large storage tank, small spray bottle, or a piece of equipment, there are minimum labeling requirements, such as the chemical identity, appropriate hazard warnings, and the name and address of the manufacturer, importer or other responsible party. ARCHIBUS MSDS stores this information and it can be used in verifying label information during activities such as a safety walk-around, chemical inventory review, and shipment inspections when containers are shipped from the plant.
  5. Generating reports.Several other reports included in the Review MSDSs process may be applicable to tasks performed by the Safety and Health Manager.