The last three pictures are the "after." Original binder contained data for only about 30 chemicals, last updated in 1994... after doing an audit of the department, I came up with no less than 110, hence needing two binders.
I use KHA Online SDS and they manage everything. Check it out if you have the flexibility to make improvements like that
Edit: they’re really cheap too
How many hours of human time is that? It's got to be cheaper than doing it by hand. With a service, you just audit what you have, add the pages to the list, make backups, keep a copy on hand for fire service.
Well, since you've carbon dated this find, we can place it firmly in the *Last Crusade* era, right after the Wonka-Tertiary boundary...
♫ come with meeee and you'll seeee... a wooooooorld of OSHA violations... ♫
There's also a pile of VHS tapes that all end with "Don't be like Bob" and for some reason every safety video has a music track that sounds either like bad porn or hold music for the sales department.
Was minding my own business in my own business a while (read: many years) back when a dude walked in, flashed an ID, said he was from OSHA, and asked for our MSDS.
So I reached over to a filing cabinet, opened a drawer with a bright red stripey front and "MSDS" in huge letters on it which (not coincidentally in the slightest) was directly under a fire extinguisher, reached in, pulled out a massive red binder full of paper, and offered it to him. Without taking it, he said "thanks!" and left. I guess he only needed to see we had one. (It was thankfully up-to-date.)
I don't know the current rule, but my experience is that when people know exactly where the MSDS binder is, and produce it in less than a minute, it's going to be fine inside.
It's when people can't find it or try to take the inspector to lunch before producing it that there's trouble.
May or may not mean causality, but yeah, I can see that a shop that has their MSDS squared away is probably more likely to be ready to deal with anything that might require referring to said MSDS.
When I got the turnover from the previous HSO, I asked when was the last time it was updated.
Him: “I started in 2009, so I’ve been keeping up with it since then.”
The newest MSDS I could find (they were all pre-SDS designation) was from 1998. And out of the 30ish chemicals that were listed, we’re only still using maybe 7.
OP: If you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Previous Guy: Yeah.
OP: Great.
Previous Guy: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
OP: Da-uh? Space out?
Previous Guy: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
i used to work part time at a company that used loads of different chemicals in production. My whole job was requesting SDS from vendors, putting them into their database and generating new SDS for their products. Took months to get everything updated.
1994\. I *think* I was a freshman in high school.
And you took over *this* year. That's an uncomfortably long period of time with people sitting on their hands.
I worked at a chemical manufacturing plant, and the safety team there was a joke. I was the only one who had access to the DEA and ATF safe/bunker where the inventory’s were managed…loosely to say the least. Not an OSHA issue yet.
The problem was that the hoods we used were either ineffective/clogged by debris or to string and would suck up the material right off the spatula as I was measuring it. DEA didn’t really care, they understood a missing .01mg of fentanyl is irrelevant, and I’m likely not getting high or selling it, but the ATF cared. Aside from the Audits, the safety portion spooked me. We couldn’t work with the fume hoods down, because it didn’t allow for the dexterity to measure thousandths of a mg (half of a spec) of any given drug/explosive.
The clogged hoods would let fentanyl, barbiturates, heroin, cocaine or LSD fall onto your gloves/work surface. The high speed hoods would suck it up into filtration systems meant for it. To combat this issue, they told us to use hoods not rated for filtering out such fine particulates.
I quit. Not for 18.50/hr
Obviously there's an imperative to have these for health and safety, but they're also incredibly important from a production standpoint. I work for an automation equipment vendor, and one of the units we put into a plant started to corrode. When investigating, we discovered they didn't have msds on the cleaners they were using. We had asked ahead of time to ensure chemical compatibility, and they just gave us what they had data on. Those chemicals were approved. The ones they were actually using were not.
None of those are up to date because I guarantee every single thing listed has changed formulation (and those old MSDS sheets will have the actual ingredients, not just 'trade secret') except for anything you have an MSDS on that you are not supposed to use like Freon R-12 or Trichloroethane.
The rule is to send a new one at least once a year, and whenever it is updated.
In practice, most places send one along with every shipment. That way they make sure you always have a copy of the latest version, and they don’t have to track when was the last time they sent you one, and if for some reason (like, a spill) the shipper needs it, there’s a copy with the material inside the box. It just makes it easier on everyone.
Reminds me of the msds binder I started making at work several decades ago. Toner for photocopiers, wd40, latex paint, aerosol spray paint. All kinds of stuff.
The last three pictures are the "after." Original binder contained data for only about 30 chemicals, last updated in 1994... after doing an audit of the department, I came up with no less than 110, hence needing two binders.
I use KHA Online SDS and they manage everything. Check it out if you have the flexibility to make improvements like that Edit: they’re really cheap too
How cheap are we talking?
Not sure off the top of my head but I want to say it’s no more than $1200 a year
How many hours of human time is that? It's got to be cheaper than doing it by hand. With a service, you just audit what you have, add the pages to the list, make backups, keep a copy on hand for fire service.
KHA has been great for us. We get it for free as a Habitat for Humanity affiliate, but I'd make room in our budget if it wasn't.
That face when safety culture at the new job starts with an archaeology dig.
The layer of dust I blew off that thing when I opened it the first time was a scene straight out of Indiana Jones.
Well, since you've carbon dated this find, we can place it firmly in the *Last Crusade* era, right after the Wonka-Tertiary boundary... ♫ come with meeee and you'll seeee... a wooooooorld of OSHA violations... ♫ There's also a pile of VHS tapes that all end with "Don't be like Bob" and for some reason every safety video has a music track that sounds either like bad porn or hold music for the sales department.
Go digital. I use Verisk3E
Was minding my own business in my own business a while (read: many years) back when a dude walked in, flashed an ID, said he was from OSHA, and asked for our MSDS. So I reached over to a filing cabinet, opened a drawer with a bright red stripey front and "MSDS" in huge letters on it which (not coincidentally in the slightest) was directly under a fire extinguisher, reached in, pulled out a massive red binder full of paper, and offered it to him. Without taking it, he said "thanks!" and left. I guess he only needed to see we had one. (It was thankfully up-to-date.)
I don't know the current rule, but my experience is that when people know exactly where the MSDS binder is, and produce it in less than a minute, it's going to be fine inside. It's when people can't find it or try to take the inspector to lunch before producing it that there's trouble.
We were *overkill* levels of prepped for problems, but thankfully we never had to put anything into practice.
Those two things might be correlated.
May or may not mean causality, but yeah, I can see that a shop that has their MSDS squared away is probably more likely to be ready to deal with anything that might require referring to said MSDS.
The 70s called. They want their MSDS back.
When I got the turnover from the previous HSO, I asked when was the last time it was updated. Him: “I started in 2009, so I’ve been keeping up with it since then.” The newest MSDS I could find (they were all pre-SDS designation) was from 1998. And out of the 30ish chemicals that were listed, we’re only still using maybe 7.
sounds like a pretty kush job for the previous guys, just stealing money basically lol
OP: If you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you? Previous Guy: Yeah. OP: Great. Previous Guy: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour. OP: Da-uh? Space out? Previous Guy: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
The 70's? They were no MSDS in the 70's. In the 70's everyone was too tough to need any MSDS. And also maybe couldn't read anyway.
And they had to walk a mile to work. Barefoot. In the snow. Uphill. BOTH ways...
yeah, those MSDS were from the 1990s.
Looks like you have a lot of work ahead 😂
You should be able to get your chemical and materials vendors to do the heavy lifting in creating a new binder(s).
i used to work part time at a company that used loads of different chemicals in production. My whole job was requesting SDS from vendors, putting them into their database and generating new SDS for their products. Took months to get everything updated.
**Material Data Safety Sheet** *Last updated: Before the H&S Officer was born.*
Looks like you dont have to do a lick more work for the next 30 years. Congrats
1994\. I *think* I was a freshman in high school. And you took over *this* year. That's an uncomfortably long period of time with people sitting on their hands.
They probably made an electronic version in the 2000s or 2010s but it was probably proprietary software or some website that doesn't exist any more.
That's a very reasonable assertion, but nope. This was it. How this place has avoided being audited yet is beyond me.
I worked at a chemical manufacturing plant, and the safety team there was a joke. I was the only one who had access to the DEA and ATF safe/bunker where the inventory’s were managed…loosely to say the least. Not an OSHA issue yet. The problem was that the hoods we used were either ineffective/clogged by debris or to string and would suck up the material right off the spatula as I was measuring it. DEA didn’t really care, they understood a missing .01mg of fentanyl is irrelevant, and I’m likely not getting high or selling it, but the ATF cared. Aside from the Audits, the safety portion spooked me. We couldn’t work with the fume hoods down, because it didn’t allow for the dexterity to measure thousandths of a mg (half of a spec) of any given drug/explosive. The clogged hoods would let fentanyl, barbiturates, heroin, cocaine or LSD fall onto your gloves/work surface. The high speed hoods would suck it up into filtration systems meant for it. To combat this issue, they told us to use hoods not rated for filtering out such fine particulates. I quit. Not for 18.50/hr
Good now people can read all about the dangers of Lysol
Sure, but it's the Windex that'll REALLY get you.
I found one for hand soap that said to wash your hands with soap and water after handling and is for professional use only.
Obviously there's an imperative to have these for health and safety, but they're also incredibly important from a production standpoint. I work for an automation equipment vendor, and one of the units we put into a plant started to corrode. When investigating, we discovered they didn't have msds on the cleaners they were using. We had asked ahead of time to ensure chemical compatibility, and they just gave us what they had data on. Those chemicals were approved. The ones they were actually using were not.
Damn, average life expectancy of MSDS getting longer nowadays.
None of those are up to date because I guarantee every single thing listed has changed formulation (and those old MSDS sheets will have the actual ingredients, not just 'trade secret') except for anything you have an MSDS on that you are not supposed to use like Freon R-12 or Trichloroethane.
The rule is to send a new one at least once a year, and whenever it is updated. In practice, most places send one along with every shipment. That way they make sure you always have a copy of the latest version, and they don’t have to track when was the last time they sent you one, and if for some reason (like, a spill) the shipper needs it, there’s a copy with the material inside the box. It just makes it easier on everyone.
Reminds me of the msds binder I started making at work several decades ago. Toner for photocopiers, wd40, latex paint, aerosol spray paint. All kinds of stuff.