A material safety data sheet (MSDS) is a document designed to provide employees with the necessary information to safely use a chemical or mixture. Every chemical or mixture that is available or used in an industrial or institutional setting must have an accompanied MSDS stating the hazards associated with the product.
MSDS authoring can be complicated because every country/jurisdiction has its own regulations specifying what information must be disclosed on the document. MSDS categories include E.U. (SDS), NAFTA (U.S., Canada and Mexico), OSHA/WHMIS (U.S. and Canada), OSHA (U.S.) and WHMIS (Canada). Many important statements are included in an MSDS, including: chemical product and company identification, the composition of the ingredients, hazards identified, first aid and firefighting measures and regulatory statements. This data is typically presented in a 16-section format, but can vary from a one-page format to over 10 pages, depending on the creator of the MSDS.
MSDS reformatting is the process of taking an MSDS that is compliant in one jurisdiction, such as the United States, and re-authoring it so it is compliant in another, such as Canada.
Translating MSDSs is usually not advisable, as it can lead to non-compliant documents and it is also often not cost-effective. For example, you cannot simply take a U.S. compliant MSDS and translate it into Danish and have a document which is compliant in Denmark. Rather than translating a MSDS into the desired language, MSDSs should be re-formatted to ensure that they are compliant in the desired jurisdiction.
MSDS authoring can be complicated because every country/jurisdiction has its own regulations specifying what information must be disclosed on the document. MSDS categories include E.U. (SDS), NAFTA (U.S., Canada and Mexico), OSHA/WHMIS (U.S. and Canada), OSHA (U.S.) and WHMIS (Canada). Many important statements are included in an MSDS, including: chemical product and company identification, the composition of the ingredients, hazards identified, first aid and firefighting measures and regulatory statements. This data is typically presented in a 16-section format, but can vary from a one-page format to over 10 pages, depending on the creator of the MSDS.
MSDS reformatting is the process of taking an MSDS that is compliant in one jurisdiction, such as the United States, and re-authoring it so it is compliant in another, such as Canada.
Translating MSDSs is usually not advisable, as it can lead to non-compliant documents and it is also often not cost-effective. For example, you cannot simply take a U.S. compliant MSDS and translate it into Danish and have a document which is compliant in Denmark. Rather than translating a MSDS into the desired language, MSDSs should be re-formatted to ensure that they are compliant in the desired jurisdiction.
MSDS authoring is really complicated, that's why there are websites like LlewellynEurope.com that offers MSDS authoring services.
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