How Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) Keep Us Safe

A Material Safety Data Sheet is a critical accessory for anyone that works around a potentially dangerous material. It keeps the area safe, and when combined with the proper training, helps provide a safer and more eco-friendly workspace.

What is a Material Safety Data Sheet?

Also known as a MSDS, a Material Safety Data Sheet is a document that details information on possible occupational hazards that might hinder the well-being and safety of workers. The MSDS is not designed for the consumer, but instead those who work around or with a specific substance that could be possibly hazardous.

Material Safety Data Sheets

Material Safety Data Sheets contain data on handling environmental hazards, fire, reactivity, and health. They also include information on how to safely manage NDT and MRO supplies as well as other chemical products. In addition to information on how to handle these possible hazards, there are also instructions on handling, using, and storing the products recorded on the sheet.

When the unimaginable occurs, these sheets also describe the right emergency protocol, so that you understand how to properly fight a chemical fire, as opposed to making it worse. This is a wonderful starting point in helping individuals and organizations establish a safety and health program.

Why Do You Need the MSDS?

Although product labels typically supply most of the information included on the MSDS, they don’t cover every base. When mistakes occur, there is no time to look around for an instruction label to read.

Alternatively, the MSDS is created by manufacturers and suppliers that produce the materials. It explains what to do if an incident occurs, what will happen if the right safety procedures are ignored, arranges information and describes what kind of hazards are correlated with the mixture or substance, how to use the product properly, and what symptoms to expect from overexposure.

The Material Safety Data Sheet is specific to the product, not a workplace. When a company has a MSDS, they can finally put the right training in place and follow the rules needed to keep their environment and people safe.

How Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) Keep Us Safe

How to Know if Your Company Needs a MSDS

Any business dealing with materials that are hazardous to your health or the environment, or include ingredients that are, need a MSDS.

What Does a MSDS Include?

Each Material Safety Data Sheet should contain the same information and topics. If a category doesn’t apply to a certain substance, or there is no information, the MSDS will take note of that as well.

The standard MSDS will contain categories like:

  1. First-aid
  2. Disposal
  3. Regulatory information
  4. Storage and Handling
  5. Reactivity and stability
  6. Environmental considerations
  7. Transport
  8. Ingredients
  9. How to fight fires
  10. Hazard identification
  11. Accidental release measures
  12. Exposure
  13. Chemical and physical properties
  14. Toxicological information
  15. Other information

Also read: How to Find the Right Industrial Tools Online for Your Business

MSDS: Safety Dominates in the Workplace

A MSDS should be understood and read prior to an accident occurring. Learn the terms and what to do when a hazard occurs to keep the workplace safe.

Since 1973, Tech Service Products (TSP) has been the go-to company to provide an array of supplies and services for several industries. For services like non-destructive testing, NDT training, and industrial supplies, contact us. Stop by one of our various locations, or shop online to learn more.

| About the Guest Author:

Guest Author
Faith Munsell is Internet Marketing Assistant at Bizzuka. He also run a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Blog for Tech Service Products, a non-destructive testing company in Louisiana.


Related Articles

Leave a Comment