Have you checked if your safety data sheet authoring system produces documents conforming to hazard communication regulations? 

Benefits of an SDS system compliance review

• Although no one can guarantee compliance, an audit of your safety data sheets can help fine tune your systems to avoid enforcement penalties.
• A system compliance review demonstrates your company's commitment to compliance, which can reduce penalties in the event of an inspection.
• Protect your company's reputation with your customers by providing good quality safety data sheets. 

Chemical Safety Consulting has decades of experience using this process to support clients in the evaluation of safety data sheets for conformity with local SDS regulations and guidance.

What is the process for an SDS system compliance review?

• Develop test cases
  Chemical Safety Consulting can support the development of test cases. A clearly documents test case plan will demonstrate that the audit has been conducted in a manner that is representative of the range of product hazards and with respect to chemicals of particular concern (e.g. chemicals subject to specific national regulations).
• Audit the finished SDS in translation
  Chemical Safety Consulting can confirm the form of the safety data sheet with respect to local regulations or guidance
  Chemical Safety Consulting verifies key elements in the local language where the regulations/guidance define the phrases that must or should be used, e.g. for section headers and subheaders and legally established phrases such as H- and P-statements.
• Audit the finished SDS in English
  Chemical Safety Consulting can verify specific required elements per national regulations and perform a consistency check on information disclosed in sections 2-3 with the information given in the rest of the safety data sheet.
  Chemical Safety Consulting can provide general observations based on experience with important expectations of customers in the target countries.
• Deliverable #1: Recommendations
  Chemical Safety Consulting has developed tools for efficiently communicating improvements needs, especially avoiding repeated remarks on identical issues arising in different test cases and easing the tracking of issue resolution.
• Deliverable #2: Documenting the audit results for the project records
  Although it can be difficult to guarantee compliance on complicated documents such as an SDS, in the event of an inspection or challenge to the SDS it can be useful to have evidence of a quality control program intended to avoid and minimize errors. Therefore, as a second deliverable Chemical Safety Consulting provides a report of the audit approach and summary of the work undertaken suitable for use in an inspection.

Contact Chemical Safety Consulting today to ensure that your safety data sheets conform with your expectations and the regulations in the countries where you market your products. 

© Christine Lepisto, 2017