Implementation of a Company Wide Material Safety Data Sheet System

After reviewing a system of paper only copies and miscellaneous word documents that were being used as "official" documents for industrial products, this expert consultant proposed the implementation of a central system for the composition and maintenance of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS's). The implementation of a central system for MSDS's was needed to ensure that all customers were receiving the same information and that the information was the most recent available.

The process began with the evaluation of several MSDS authoring packages that were compatible with the company computer systems. The flexibility for multi site access was also a priority as the company operated many sites throughout the US and Canada. The expertise for each product line was site specific, so the system had to have the functionality for multiple people at different locations to be able to enter and modify information for the products that were specific to their site. The system also needed to have the ability for all customer service and warehouse personnel to have the ability to access and print copies of the finished documents to send to customers upon request or along with orders.

Once a suitable package was found and approved, this consultant coordinated with all sites and customer service as well as product coordinators to gather all existing copies of the MSDS's. All existing documents were converted into a universal Microsoft Word format so that they could be downloaded into the new system and be immediately available. The process involved converting the existing documents into the ANSI 16 section format, confirming the Chemical Abstract Service numbers, CAS #, of the components to ensure their presence on the Toxic Substances Control Act, TSCA (US) inventory and to ensure that standardized language was incorporated into the body text of the documents. Upon completion of this, the existing documents were imported into the new system.

At this point, the products that did not have existing MSDS's were added to the system either by this consultant or by the site safety personnel and published into the system. The program was then able to automatically generate an MSDS for each product shipment and upon request from customer service. This consultant's dedication to ensure the company's compliance with Hazard Communication requirements led to the implementation of a central repository for MSDS's and resulted in increased customer satisfaction.

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