Information sources Material Safety Data Sheets

Information Sources Material Safety Data Sheets... 

Additional information may be had on storage of chemicals from several sources. Material Safety Data Sheets, for example, have specific instructions with regard to storage. The local fire inspector will have good suggestions, and much can be found in reference books. Above all, the laboratory operator should throughly familiarize himself with all chemicals to be used in order to develop a safe storage system. 

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is a detailed information bulletin prepared by the manufacturer or importer of a chemical tliat describes tlie physical and healtli hazards, routes of exposure, precautions for safe handling and use, emergency and first-aid procedures, and control measures. Infonnation on an MSDS aids in tlie selection of safe products and helps prepare employers and employees to respond effectively to daily exposure situations as well as to emergency situations. It is also a source of information for identifying chemical hazards. 

Of these sources, Kirk-Othmer s Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology is particularly recommended for questions on chemistry and on end uses. For information on properties and on toxicity and handling hazards, Patty s Industrial Hygiene, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), and the Aldrich catalog are very nseful. Questions on industrial chemistry should be directed to Ullman s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, and the texts by Chenier, Heaton, and White. Hawley s Condensed Chemical Dictionary is valuable as a source for dehnitions of the terms (language) of chemistry. 

A practical problem faced by tanneries is that many chemical products are proprietary products. Many suppliers do not specify the chemical composition of the products, so tanneries may have to seek additional information from the chemical suppliers in order to determine the environmental impact of the products they use. Sometimes it is also difficult for tanneries to receive accurate information also from the suppliers of the chemicals. Material safety data sheets generally provide some data on the toxicity of the products to humans and environment, and many tanneries use these as the sole source of information to determine the environmental impact of a certain substance. It can be expected in the EU in the future that tanneries will receive more detailed information about the substances used because of the REACH legislation. 

Your first source for chemical reactivity data should be your material manufacturer or supplier/distributor. Some manufacturers and suppliers have developed pamphlets or other product literature giving more extensive information than what is on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). You... 

One of the best ways to determine that potential is to examine the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), which by law in most jurisdictions must be provided by the manufacturer for any hazardous material used in the workplace and made available to the employees by plant management. The MSDS provides all the information necessary to determine the hazard potential and the requirements for control of any hazardous substance. Still other information can be found in the various guidelines published by the American Industrial Health Association, or by the U.S. National Safety Council, or by NIOSH (the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) or various other national, state, or provincial government bodies. (See Appendix II for information on sources.) Once you have an inventory, of course, you can start relating potential health problems to possible sources in particular areas. Also, in the process of preparing this report, you will begin to build an invaluable library that will stand you in good stead for further consideration of the problems at hand. 

Even unifying information about a very specific field such as the pharmacology of discrete drugs is a monumental task. The primary reason for this difficulty is the disparity of purpose between various information sources. Consider how different the purposes are ofWDI (World Drug Index) [20], PDR (Physician s Desk Reference) [21], MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) [22] and REG (Chemical Abstracts Registry) [23], each of which has a different natural data model. 

There are two main sonrces for the environmental regnlatory, health and safety, and cost information (Betts, 1998). One is EPA s Tide 3 List of Lists, which describes which chemicals are regnlated by what regnlations. The other source is the Materials Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) that all material manufacturers must fdl out for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The MSDS is a critical element in any environmental smdy. 

The handbook provides ready information on the fire and chemical reactivity of commonly used chemicals. Its purpose is to provide basic information important to the safe handling of chemicals and to help provide guidance in responding to a hazardous materials incident, in particular, incidents involving reactive chemicals and materials posing fire and explosion hazards. The data and information on each chemical have been compiled from several sources, including the CHRIS data base, material safety data sheets from chemical manufacturers and suppliers, and various references cited at the end of this first chapter. This first chapter provides an explanation of the terms used in chemical specific discussions and also provides basic guidance on how to extract information from the handbook. 

Terpene chemists use trivial names for most of the compounds because the systematic names are much more complex. Common or trivial names, CAS Registry Numbers, and properties of selected terpenes and terpenoids are listed in Tables 2 and 3. Compounds that exhibit chirality also have other Registry Numbers for specific optical isomers. For commercial products, a material safety data sheet (MSDS), which is required by OSHA, frequendy lists multiple names such as a product name, trivial name, IUPAC name and the TSCA name. The MSDS is a good source of information about physical properties, potential health hazards, and other useful information for the safe handling of the materials. When the product is a mixture, the components and their amounts are usually listed along with their Registry Numbers. 

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet a (legal) document that must accompany any supplied chemical that provides information on chemical content, physical properties, hazards, and treatment of hazards. The MSDS should be considered only a minimal source of information, and cannot replace additional information available in other, more comprehensive sources. 

In-line with general product specification. Always satisfy suitability for specific application. The data provided in this material safety data sheet is meant to represent typical data/analysis for this product and is correct to the best of our knowledge. The data was obtained from current and reliable sources, but is supplied without warranty, expressed or implied, regarding its correctness or accuracy. It is the user s responsibility to determine safe conditions for the use of this product, and to assume liability for loss, injury, damage or expense arising from improper use of this product. The information provided does not constitute a contract to supply to any specification, or for any given application, and buyers should seek to verify their requirements and product use. 

It is essential to understand the hazards of chemical products so that they can be used safely. Important sources of information for aromatherapists include guidelines from bodies such as RIFM (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials), IFRA (International Fragrance Association), product labels and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets). 

An estimate of the toxicity or intrinsic hazard is needed for each material identified in the inventory. Such information for many chemicals in the form of a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) are required by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. (Other countries have similar requirements.) Standard hazard-data sources may need to be consulted for those chemical compounds for which no MSDSs are presently available. Adequate hazard data may be lacking for various mixtures that are unique to the plant. For such mixtures, it may be necessary to analyze the contents and then estimate the overall hazard based on the individual components. 

The U.S. National Institute of Health has prepared a Household Products Database that provides toxicity information for a large number of household products. Included are product, ingredient, and material safety data sheet information for numerous individual products. PI Another source of such information is Home Safe Home by D.L. Dadd. PI... 

The Safety Officer, after receiving the R D process description, immediately consults the appropriate literature to determine if any hazard exists relative to the toxicity or irritability of a particular product or intermediate. Material Safety Data Sheets, when available, are his prime source of information. In their absence, he consults the supplier of either the material or process for further information. If no information is available, he submits samples for toxicity screening, if it appears warranted. He may arrange testing for irritation, mutagenicity (Ames Test) or other hazards. Once all chemical toxicity information is available, he is responsible for judging its relative severity. He also recommends suitable protective equipment to be used by manufacturing personnel to avoid contact with a potentially hazardous substance. 

It has come to my attention recently that many of our laboratory workers have not had much of an opportunity to explore the various information sources that are at our disposal. These include Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), the Merck Index on compact disc, and the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, for example. In addition, some of our newer employees need to come up-to-speed on our system for ordering chemicals. 

A few hydrocarbon derivatives from the alkyl-halide family are 2.2 nonflammable compressed gases. This illustrates the wide range of hazards of the alkyl halides as a group. Some are flammable, some are toxic, and some are nonflammable and nontoxic. They can still act as asphyxiants and displace the oxygen in the air. It is important to remember that the primary hazard of the alkyl halides is toxicity. Some of them are also flammable therefore, all must be assumed to be toxic and flammable until the individual chemical is researched and the actual hazards are determined. It is interesting to note that while the DOT lists tetrafluoromethane as a nonflammable, nonpoisonous gas, the Condensed Chemical Dictionary lists the compound as toxic by inhalation. The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards does not list the compound. The best source of information about this compound and others may be the MSDS (material safety data sheet). Examples of nonflammable Class 2.2 alkyl halides are tetrafluoromethane and trifluoromethane. 

Common Data Source Approach. Another approach is to use a common source of data for benchmarking a set of chemicals. Examples of potential data sources include Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) from product manufacturers, the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the International Uniform Chemical Information Database (lUClID), the High Rroduction Volume Information System (HRVIS), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Screening Information Dataset (SIDS), and the Canadian Domestic Substances list... 

When antidotes are known to help against particular intoxications, they should only be mentioned after consultation with a medical doctor, for example the application of a gel containing calcium gluconate for treatment of hydrofluoric acid burns. It should always be borne in mind that the instructions given on first-aid are primarily addressed to normal employees, not to the physician. The information needed can be obtained from Section 4 (first-aid) of the materials safety data sheet or from other sources. 

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