How to Read a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)

Did you know that all manufacturers of chemicals are required by law to describe clearly and completely the hazards of chemical products they supply? A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), called simply a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) in many countries, documents the hazards of chemicals. Primarily intended for industrial and professional users, even the products on the shelf at your local store usually have MSDSs. How else would the employees at the store know how to clean up in case a couple cartons of household cleaner fall off a truck?

But here is a trick: you, as a consumer, can find or request the MSDS for products you buy. With a little understanding, the MSDS can help you avoid products that contain chemicals causing (or suspected of causing) allergies, cancer, birth defects, dangerous reactions, and more. So what do you need to know to read an MSDS? Well, you need not be a chemist...here are some tips for understanding a material safety data sheet.

Probably the hardest thing about helping users understand MSDSs is the fact that these documents are organized in many different formats, having between 8 and 16 sections. This will be changing. A United Nations program for a Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling (known as GHS for short) currently demands that all nations pass laws to require a 16-section MSDS. This article refers to the GHS format, but if you have a different type of MSDS, just look around a bit: you will still find the key bits of information somewhere (some hints are given).