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MSDS - A Paperwork Nightmare or A Tool for Excellence?
By Dan Templeton

Material Safety Data Sheet - say these words to the normal business manager and they'll shake their heads and proclaim them as a necessary evil inflicted on them by OSHA.

Every shipment of a chemical to a new customer is required to have a Material Safety Data Sheet, an MSDS. No wonder it sounds like quite a bureaucratic burden dreamed up by the Federal Government - the same folks that bought the $500 hammer to swat the West Nile virus mosquitoes in Nome in January.

To the contrary however, the MSDS regulations and an excellent MSDS management system can be a tool that adds to organizational excellence. Organizational excellence requires continued attention to removing expensive waste from the operation and business processes.

In many organizations it is common practice to go overboard when trying to fulfill regulations "just to make sure." As an example, it is a common practice for companies to send an MSDS with every shipment, regardless whether it is a new customer or the one who already has received 10 -15 copies of the same MSDS this year. In fact the MSDS regulations (CFR 1910.1200) state that an MSDS only needs to be supplied if requested unless a manufacturer is supplying material to be manufactured (manufacturer to manufacturer).

Aptimise is heavily engaged with MSDSs. First, there are the clients who see the need to be compliant with the letter of the law. Aptimise provides quarterly audit services with degreed, even doctoral level, chemists actually assessing the chemicals in the facilities and getting the most current data sheets on a 24 x 7 web site. So what?

In a recent case, a client had just had their insurance carrier's inspector come through. He admitted that he wasn't a chemist, but he did point out some risks. Aptimise chemists came through a few weeks later and found about 10 carcinogens and one controlled substance. Some of the paint cans were so old that they pre-dated MSDS legislation! What's in your facility?

Soon though, the scare tactic gives way to productive uses of the information. What administrator wouldn't want to recoup the extra 1000-2000 square feet and security costs that maintenance of the chemical inventories requires? This is the second place where Aptimise expertise comes into use. Aptimise already provides solutions to clients to reduce chemicals stored in the building through chemical management programs.

Insurance carriers do take note of reduced chemical hazards in a building. That may translate into real dollar savings. Further, there are savings to be had through centralized controls afforded by information of what chemicals are coming and going from a facility. Information leading to savings by volume discounts or breaking bulk purchases between groups of buildings. Those kinds of purchasing data can be extracted from Aptimise proprietary MSDS databases.

Aptimise can turn the same database into a preventative tool. The database can be made available to the local fire station. In advanced services, Aptimise maps the locations of the chemicals on the building map.

What of the MSDSs themselves? Aptimise provides tailored education about what the MSDS data can really tell your staff. This is not the clinically dry reading or the moonsuited worker type scaremongering.

Aptimise can provide your staff with interactive on-line training about the real chemicals in your facility and what the MSDSs tell you about them. Which would you rather have: a generic, cover-your-tail introduction to MSDSs for your new associates or one that will inform them about what they really need to know about the chemicals and your chemical safety program?

You can also get compliance documentation and feedback on what your associates took away from the class. The classes come in bite-sized chunks developed by Aptimise instructional designers working with hands-on chemists. Disabled or learning impaired associates? Associates for whom English is a second language? Aptimise is fully equipped to provide these classes to meet those concerns.

Call today and learn how Aptimise can start your firm on the path to excellence through MSDS information and high-quality on-line education.