Having An Accurate SDS In Your Inventory Matters

Why Are Accurate Safety Data Sheets Important?

Having safety data sheets (SDS) for every hazardous product at your workplace is required by HazCom (U.S.) and WHMIS (Canada). It is the employer’s responsibility to make those SDSs readily accessible to their employees. Traditionally, SDSs were kept in a dusty binder on a shelf in the office of the shop floor. Today, SDS are accessed electronically through laptops, or increasingly, cell phones. Keeping SDSs up-to-date was once tasked to the employee on desk duty recovering from an injury. 

Outsourcing SDS Management

Now, many companies are outsourcing this task to 3rd party vendors like sdsBinders to track down current SDSs. There are many service offerings but the quality of SDS providers and SDS libraries differ in terms of how current and accurate the SDSs are. Some appear to be only a storehouse of PDFs, dating back over 20 years, in multiple languages and for various countries. Searching for the correct SDS to match the hazardous product you are using becomes a frustrating and painstaking affair. Beyond wading through outdated, redundant, and irrelevant SDS files, there are many more reasons to maintain an accurate inventory. Having accurate environmental, health, and safety records that match the time of employment and workers onsite is essential for worker claims management. Demonstrating due diligence with accurate information on worker exposure and hazard communication in the workplace. HazCom compliance is most cited violation by OHSA in the U.S. 

Reasons To Keep Your SDSs Up-To-Date  

There are several reasons why you should keep your workplace’s safety data sheets up to date, including: 

• Accessing an accurate SDS quickly in an incident when time is of the essence.  

• Eliminate confusion for workers and supervisors over what hazard information to use.  

• Employer due diligence showing commitment to compliance  

• SDS recordkeeping for insurance purposes that may need to be archived and accessed for up to 30 years.   

• A change in chemical composition by the manufacturer can introduce new hazards that workers need to be trained on.   

• As science catches up to industry, recent health studies could reveal new or increased hazards of a substance.    

• Change to Transportation or OHS regulations prompting SDS revisions.    

• Adoption of a newer GHS standard can introduce new hazard classifications.  

Are you looking to outsource your SDS Management? Chemscape Safety Technology’s sdsBinders can help you speed up your operations and reduce your management costs. Contact us to learn more today.