We at Safetec are very pleased and proud to become affiliate members of the
VPPPA. Some of you we know already, and the rest we look forward to meeting. We respect and admire your commitment to become leaders in safety and to be seen as examples of what it looks like when safety is done right.
Safetec is committed to the same goal. Safetec is a Software as a Service (SaaS) organization
providing world-class MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) and chemical management solutions and services to medium and large-sized organizations. But, rather than turning this email into an advertisement, we offer it as an invitation.
Please visit our
chemical compliance website and see for yourself what Safetec has to offer your organization in regards to
MSDS and chemical management. View previous quarterly
MSDS newsletters.
Download our white paper on
Software as a Service as an EHS solution.
View our
3 Minute Movie.
Join us at these
Chemical Compliance events.
We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you.
Best regards,
Jim Frohlich
Labels: chemical compliance, chemical management, material safety data sheets, MSDS, vpppa
I’ve been in the business of helping companies manage Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs or SDSs) for the past 12 years. I’ve seen many different ways of managing collections from paper-based systems such as filing cabinets and plastic binders to software-based or online electronic methods. Regardless of how well a collection is managed, I always tried to note how old the MSDSs in the collection where.
If your facility is in Canada, WHMIS regulations require you to have MSDSs that are no older than three years. Some manufacturers simply change the revision date (or date prepared) of their MSDSs and re-send them to their customers. Believe it or not, this is actually acceptable!
In the United States, regulations don’t specifically require you have up-to-date MSDS documents for every material at your facility. However, you should consider keeping these up-to-date anyway. Here’s why:
- The formulation could change. It’s important to note even slight changes to the chemical composition of your hazardous materials. A change from .05% to .15% for a carcinogen, for example, could be the difference between requiring you to report a chemical for regulatory purposes or not.
- The manufacturer may have learned additional information about their product. It’s common for manufacturer to provide additional information on MSDS documents as new information is learned. This could be due to a formulation change or it could simply be a change in the testing or hazard evaluation process. The more information you and your employees know about a hazardous material, the better!
- The manufacturer may have moved, been bought out or merged with another company. It’s always useful to have quick access to the contact information for a manufacturer in case you need additional information about the makeup of the material, specific characteristics or hazards.
The MSDS Age Distribution report uses a graph to visually display the age (based on revision date) of an active MSDS collection (see below for an example). This report is designed to help you understand how old your MSDS collection is and whether or not you should consider refreshing your MSDS collection.
If you are a Safetec customer and would like to get a copy of your most recent MSDS Aging, please feel to contact your account manager or project manager or you can always send me an email and I’ll make sure to have someone get this out to you.
Labels: CCM V8, MSDS, Reports
