August Mack's Monthly Newsletter

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) continue to play a critical role in Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) compliance, from “Employee Right-To-Know” to chemical management and reporting. Today, several technology solutions are available to help you effectively manage this never-ending flow of paperwork. If you are ready to make the move to a technology solution, but not sure what type of system or what issues need to be considered, here is some food for thought.

First, consider how you currently use MSDS and what you want to accomplish. Most companies need, at a minimum, to keep updated MSDS and provide access to their employees. This is commonly referred to as “Employee Right-To-Know”. Making MSDS available can also be very useful to medical personnel and emergency responders in the case of an accident.

Historically, companies have used three-ring binders to fulfill this need. However, three-ring binders can only be indexed one way, for example by product number. This makes it difficult to find an MSDS if you do not know the product number. Technology solutions solve this by scanning the MSDS image into an electronic database and associating several searchable fields, then making MSDS available through an internet or intranet. This allows employees to search and print MSDS by product number, vendor or synonym. Having your MSDS in an electronic database also means MSDS cannot be removed, misplaced or lost.

The second most common use of MSDS is for developing and maintaining a chemical database for environmental or other useful reports. Many environmental regulations list specific chemicals and aggregate threshold amounts to determine if the regulation applies to your facility. These regulatory lists can, and do, change chemicals or threshold amounts. Occasionally, a new list is added, such as a few years ago when the Department of Homeland Security started tracking dangerous chemicals that could be used in a terrorist attack.

Technology solutions solve this issue by entering in key data from your MSDS such as chemical ingredients, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) numbers, specific gravity, inventory amounts, location or departments. This allows you to quickly determine if any of your products contain regulated chemicals and if they exceed the threshold amounts.

The most common type of off-the-shelf technology solutions are software or internet solutions.

Software solutions were some of the earlier technology. They solved many of the problems with three-ring binders. However, they still required you to scan in images and key in data. Other points to consider when searching for a software solution:

Potential technical issues - compatibility with other systems, server space, firewall security and other IT-related issues
Cost to populate the system - Entering in your MSDS images and data can be a lot more than the system price.
System cost – this includes licensing fees, multiple users fees (for concurrent users) and seat fees (fee to load software on each PC)
System maintenance cost - Many software solutions require you to purchase annual updates for technical support or to keep the system current with computer platforms and new features.
User friendly - Is the system intuitive? Or, will it require continual training? Bells and whistles look enticing, but are rarely used and can cause the system to be overly complicated.
Stability of software support company - Will they be in business five or ten years from now? Some companies have lost thousands of dollars in lost data when the software company goes out of business and are no longer able to support the system.

Internet solutions were the next to follow, usually offering millions of common or generic MSDS on line. As with most next-generation solutions, they eliminated many of the past issues such as lower cost, less technical issues and quick to start up. However, they may not be the MSDS for your specific products. If they are not the MSDS you need, you cannot track chemicals for regulatory reporting. Many vendors now offer the opportunity to enter in your MSDS, but at an additional charge.

August Mack has developed a hybrid system using the best features of electronic solutions. Our MSDS and chemical tracking system is full service, meaning you send us your MSDS and we do all the work. First, we scan or download your MSDS images to make them available through a secure website. Employees can easily search for MSDS, to view or print, but cannot change or delete data. MSDS can also be accessed at home, by corporate offices or emergency responders.

We, then, enter your chemical data into our regulated materials tracking system (RMTS) which cross-references the chemicals in your plant against nearly 40 regulatory databases. Our solution is affordable, user-friendly and requires minimal training.

If you are moving to an electronic system, consider starting off with an inventory. This gets the process started and will save you money. Once you get a system in place, develop a pre-approval process for all new materials and samples.

In conclusion, if you are managing more than just a few MSDS, then electronic solutions offer multiple advantages. Figure out your total needs and keep it simple. Do not fall for the bells and whistles. Watch for hidden cost, including populating the system, additional fees for multiple users or computers as well as on-going maintenance of data and annual licensing fees. And finally, for accurate environmental reporting, make sure you are not using generic MSDS.

Ed Callahan is a Business Development Representative for August Mack Environmental, Inc. in its Indianapolis, Indiana office. Ed can be reached at 317.916.3156 or via e-mail at ecallahan@augustmack.com.