In-House Safety Data Sheet (SDS) Authoring & Raw Material Classification

Posted February 25, 2020

In Product Safety, SDS: Safety Data Sheets

By: Kirsten Alcock, Manager of Product Safety, email

Many companies have purchased their own in-house software for preparation of SDSs but what about your raw materials? Most systems that are widely available do not have a database program sophisticated enough to provide proper raw material classification. These are the critical starting blocks with which you will determine your overall classification. If this is incorrect, the results will trickle through to your overall GHS product classification and SDS, as well as your shipping for TDG, DOT, IATA, and IMDG. If improperly classified, the effect can be hazardous to the users, the environment, and your bottom line.

In order to determine the classification of a raw material, you must consider the following:

Where is your data coming from?
Were proper test methods used to determine the toxicological results from LD50/LC50?
Are your data sources reliable?
Are there specific country requirements for that particular chemical?
Recently Health Canada provided Hazardous Substance Assessments. Have you included these values in your data collection?

Dell Tech has been in the business of classifying chemicals for over 35 years. Our team uses a wide variety of sources including but not limited to ECHA, CCOHS, CNESST, IARC, and ACGIH to determine the best classification for an ingredient. In addition to extensive classification experience, our Product Safety Consultants are experts on both Canadian and US GHS regulations. If you are authoring your own SDS documents, you know that the majority of authoring programs do not classify raw materials. This is often the most difficult step in authoring a compliant SDS. Determining your overall hazard classification is critical. Here at Dell Tech, we spend endless hours researching every raw material in our database. Let Dell Tech classify your raw materials for you. Simply input the raw material classification we provide into your software program you already purchased. You can be confident that your classification is accurate and compliant using the most up-to-date information available.

HOW DELL TECH CAN HELP: