Reading Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

Effective Protection You Can Count On

Handout 1

The Material Safety Data Sheet, or MSDS, is designed to provide a written guide that can help protect you and your fellow workers from over exposure to chemicals that you will encounter in the workplace. The MSDS is an important part of our company’s Hazard Communication Program. A Hazard Communication Program is not just a good idea to protect all of our valuable employees, it is also the law.

The law specifies what type of information must be specified in an MSDS. However, it does not specify the order that it is to appear. Each company that sells chemicals must have certain basic information in it, but not all MSDS forms look alike. One format looks like this:

Material Safety Data Sheet

Product Designation

Section 1

Product Designation

Section 2

Hazardous Ingredients

Section 3

Physical & Chemical Data

Section 4

Health Hazard Data

Section 5

Primary Routes of Entry

Section 6

Permissible Exposure Limits

Product Designation contains the names of the product: Trade Name, Chemical Name, and a Common Name

Section I lists the hazardous ingredients that this product contains.

Section II lists the physical & chemical data. Usually containing a physical description of the product and what is usual or safe for the product.

Section III Tells you the lowest temperature that the product can catch fire and if its flammable. It also contains fire fighting equipment and procedures.

Section IV lists any health hazard data such as the immediate and long-term effects of overexposure and how you would feel from it.

Section V describes the primary routes of entry into the human body, such as swallowing, breathing, skin contact, etc.

Section VI lists the permissible exposure limits and the routes of entry that they apply to.

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Material Safety Data Sheet

Section 7:

Cancer Hazard

Section 8:

Precautions Spills

Section 9:

Controls Protection

Section 10:

First Aid & Emergency Procedures

Section 11:

MSDS Preparation Dates

Section 12:

Contact Party

Section VII tells you if the ingredients of the product are known cancer causing agents.

Section VIII this section lists storage requirements and any precautions that you may need to take and what to do in case of a spill or leak. Some types of precautions are: handling and storage, hand washing, PPE, contamination, ecological, and age precautions.

Section IX tells you of any precautions that you may need to take during use. It also may describe any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that you may need to use.

Section X tells you what to do if someone needs first aid and what type of emergency procedures that you can take to help.

Section XI tells you the date that the MSDS was prepared.

Section XII provides you with names and phone numbers to call in case of an emergency or to contact the manufacturer of the product for more information.

Material Safety Data Sheets are there to provide you with information and to help in an emergency. The important things to remember about an MSDS are:

1.Don’t panic

2.Call 911 if there is a genuine emergency

2.Remember the locations of the nearest MSDS

3.There is no standard format for an MSDS - But all of the information will be there. Be calm and read it carefully.

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