What Should Your Msds Contain?

By Author: John Michael
Total Articles: 27
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OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard helps educate workers about the hazards that are prevalent at the workplace and how to identify and handle such hazards. OSHA's cause is to spread awareness about safety at the workplace and to help company's implement a fool proof safety plan to ensure that workers are safe and healthy at all times.

Because of this, the Hazard Communication standard has a number of rules and regulations that employers need to comply with in order to maintain a certain level of safety at the worksite. This applies for the MSDS as well.

The MSDS or the Material Safety Data Sheet is extremely important and is mentioned in the Hazard Communication Standard as a strong measure to help imbibe a safety plan at the workplace. However, there are certain things that should be present on an MSDS. Firstly, your MSDS must be written in English, and should be easy to understand. You can make copies in other languages, but the main copy must be presented in English. The following information needs to listed on your MSDS:

* Identity of the chemical you are dealing with: If your company deals with chemicals, ...
... then your MSDS should contain the identity of the chemical. If the chemical happens to be a single substance, then mention its chemical as well as common name. If the chemical has been tested, then the chemical as well as common names of the ingredients should be mentioned and the common name of the mixture as well. If the chemical is hazardous and has been untested, then the chemical and common names of all the ingredients should be mentioned, and if the chemical happens to be a carcinogen, then it should be listed as well.
* If the chemical has been identified as hazardous and has potential for dangerous release that exceeds the OSHA permissible exposure limit, then it should be listed as well.
* The chemical and common name of any chemical that could potentially be a physical hazard should be listed.
* List the physical as well as chemical characteristics of the chemical. For example, the vapor pressure, etc.
* The physical hazards must be mentioned, like whether it is inflammable, explosive or reactive.
* The health hazards should be listed, and the signs and symptoms as well as the medical conditions caused due to exposure should be mentioned.
* What precautions have been taken for safe handling and usage should be mentioned. What hygienic practices are used, the protective measures, the process of repair and maintenance, and what procedures are used for the clean up of leaks and spills.
* All control measures like work practices, engineering control and personal protective equipment used should be mentioned.

These are just some of the important things to mention in your OSHA MSDS.

About the Author :
At OSHA 30 Hour Safety Course we have been rendering our OSHA 30 hour safety training to people who are looking for the safety training required by OSHA Standards.For further information, visit us at: http://www.osha30hoursafetycourse.com