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PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEETS (MSDS's)

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An MSDS is a document that provides health and safety information about products, substances or chemicals that are classified as hazardous substances or dangerous goods. MSDS provide information on the manufacturer or importing supplier, the product including its name, ingredients and properties, how the product can affect your health and precautions for using or storing it safely.

Employers using or storing dangerous goods or hazardous substances on their premises must ensure that they obtain an up to date MSDS for each of these products and their employees, contractors and emergency services personnel have access to the MSDS. MSDS are valid for five years from the date of issue, or the review date, whichever is the latest date. A risk assessment is required, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, for the handling and storage of hazardous chemicals, with information taken from the MSDS supplied by the product manufacturer.

An MSDS is required for every chemical under your control, including products not purchased by your organization, but brought onto your site by contractors or your own staff. Risk Assessment preparation and cleaning procedures require MSDS's to be accurate and complete.

Here are 5 points which may assist you to manage the risks in your workplace.

1. Many fail as out-of-date, incomplete or provide misleading information eg A product with a high pH declared as "non-hazardous"

2. Sections of an MSDS which require accurate answers may be marked N/A or not applicable omitting information rather than providing tested results.

3. Lack of transparency by using the words Proprietary Formula, other non-hazardous ingredients or similar words in the ingredients list to prevent users from making a thorough risk assessment or to make comparison with a competitive product more difficult.

4. The chemical is supplied as a concentrate in a plastic bag or bottle. The MSDS declares the pH of the "ready to use" product, measured after dilution with water, rather than the pH of the concentrate which requires physical handling by your staff to decant into a spray bottle, bucket and/or a drum.

5. Manufacturers of chemicals have been known to conceal ingredients, add masking chemicals to avoid detection of the ingredient which they do not want detected. The concealed and masking raw materials do not appear in the MSDS.

TIPS
Where CAS numbers appear in the ingredient list, they can be used to research the raw materials used in the formulation. If you use the internet take care to use only sites with reliable testing resources and verify results before making final decisions. Low percentages (<5%) of raw materials are used in some products while the test data talks about 100% of the raw material. By the way Aqua is water, H2O, CAS number 7732-18-5 and has a pH of close to 7 or neutral.

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