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Environmental & Risk Management / Material Safety Data Sheets / Business Process Owner - MSDS

Overview: Business Process Owner - MSDS

Safety officers and plant managers need to provide material safety data sheets (MSDSs) to employees who work with hazardous chemical products. This is important for ensuring their health and safety and complying with OSHA regulations (and avoiding costly fines or lawsuits for violations). However, hard copies of MSDS data are hard to organize, distribute, and keep up to date. The ARCHIBUS MSDS simplifies this task and ensures greater accuracy by managing all the information in a database and sharing it via the web so employees can easily access the appropriate information where and when they need it.

As with many ARCHIBUS activities, a collection of background data supports the entry of the main component. In the case of MSDSs, background data is needed for the subjects shown below. Note, however, that depending on how detailed your site's data entry is, you may not need all of these subjects. For example, if you do not intend to enter the constituent chemicals for each MSDS, you would not need to provide the Chemical List data. As an absolute minimum, however, you will need to capture the manufacturer's contact information in the Define Companies task.

1. Define Companies - Company contact information such as address, phone, emergency contact, and website URL are captured. Company data are then used in selections lists for the manufacturer, distributor, and preparer of the MSDS.
2. Define Chemicals - Chemical identification information including the chemical name, hazard classification, CAS number and an assortment of other identifiers are captured for each chemical. The chemical data are needed for identifying the constituent chemical elements of a hazardous material. Constituent chemicals can be selected from a selection list in the MSDS data entry process.
3. Define Hazard Classification System - ARCHIBUS provides a flexible system for defining up to 3 levels of hazard classification. There are several common classification systems included with the system. Hazard classifications can be applied to an MSDS. The 3 levels are defined using the following entry forms:
   • Define Hazard Classification System - top level -- identifies the system.
   • Define Hazard Classes - Second level - identifies classes of hazards, requires system definition.
   • Define Hazard Categories - Third level, defines categories within a class.
   • Define Hazard Classification - This form allows definition of all 3 levels on one form.
4. Define Container Categories and Types - Container categories are used to group types of containers. Container type data includes the container type, size, and units. Container types are associated with the MSDS when it is assigned to a location. This allows the system to quantify how much of a material can be in an area. Two views provide container category and type data entry:
   • Define Container Categories
   • Define Container Types
5. Define Units - Measurement units are defined as background data and are applied to the size of containers and to the physical properties associated with the MSDS.