Source: SPECIALIST PRINTING WORLDWIDE : ISSUE 1: 2014
Elaine Campling itemises the reasoning behind safety data sheets
The European Chemicals Agency state that “Safety data sheets (SDS) are the main tool for ensuring that suppliers communicate enough information along the supply chain to allow safe use of their substances and mixtures”. However, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) and other interested parties report that the quality and content of safety data sheets is not always what it should be. This causes confusion for customers and could result in the advertent exposure to chemical substances.
The information provided should help employers to meet their legal duties in protecting employees from chemical agents at work (Directive 98/24/EC). However, employers are not very well equipped to undertake their legal duties without the correct information on the hazard of the mixture and the hazardous properties of constituent substances. It is therefore useful to examine some of the requirements for SDSs, but the focus will generally be on mixtures e.g. products such as printing inks.