Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) Overview

Last updated September 2, 2009 10:10:48 AM PDT

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Learn about employer and employee responsibilities for accessing and using MSDSs to develop safe work procedures.

Purpose

A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) provides hazard information for a specific chemical or product. All manufacturers and vendors of hazardous or potentially hazardous chemicals must provide MSDSs for their products.

MSDSs vary in style and content, but all contain certain required information that includes:

Chemical identification, composition, and physical properties
Health, physical, and environmental hazards
Emergency and first aid procedures
Safe handling and storage procedures

Sources

MSDSs are one of many tools for evaluating chemical hazards. Consult several sources to obtain sufficient information on how to protect yourself.

See Material Safety Data Sheet Sources for an extensive list of MSDSs and other chemical hazard information resources.

Employer responsibilities

Employers are required by law to provide workers with access to MSDSs. UCSD facilities where hazardous materials are handled are also required by law to either retain hard copies of MSDSs provided by manufacturers or teach all personnel how to obtain MSDSs electronically.

Note: Electronic MSDSs are preferred because UCSD has a large and frequently changing inventory of chemicals.

Employee responsibilities

Employees must know how to read and understand an MSDS. To learn more about the information an MSDS provides, see Material Safety Data Sheets Explained.