MSDS Fraud
MSDS Fraud
I ran across a case of what I believe to be a deliberately fraudulent Material Safety Data Sheet.
We were asked to sell a new product. We requested a material safety data sheet and any other information they have.
The MSDS mentioned one chemical and said that the chemical was somewhere between 1% and 5% of the total.
I do not like this. According to OSHA an MSDS sheet is supposed to list all the chemicals that could harm a worker. You can get into a situation where even water could harm a worker if used improperly. There are a lot of chemical reactions where water is very dangerous. Perhaps the simplest to understand is water on a grease fire or a gas fire.
The one chemical mentioned wasn’t too bad safety wise but they also mentioned that there was an organic catalyst in the formula. When you take the chemical mentioned and combine it with the right organic catalyst you get a pretty dangerous chemical created as a result. The chemical created is very volatile and has several health effects including cancer.
The manufacturer may have found a legal loophole. He may think that he can just list the two chemicals he adds without listing the dangerous chemical they create.
In any case, I definitely don’t like it. I count on the MSDS sheets keep my staff, my customers and myself safe. When I speak on safety and health I often start out a speech by saying that it is a bad business practice to kill your employees. Then there is a nervous laugh from the audience. Then I explain that it is also a bad business practice to make your employees sick.
When I get an MSDS sheet I want to see all the chemicals listed. And I want an honest explanation of all the hazards. I then check the MSDS sheet I was given to see how accurate it is. Here is an address to the website I have found extremely helpful over the years. Http://hazard.com/msds/
800 346-8274
Tags: safety
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