SDS Management
The HCS assigns specific SDS responsibilities to manufacturers, importers, distributors, and employers.
- Manufacturers and importers must prepare an SDS for each hazardous chemical they produce or import. One SDS may cover similar complex mixtures when their hazards and ingredients are essentially the same but the exact composition varies.
- Ensure that the SDS information recorded accurately reflects the scientific evidence used in making the hazard classification.
- Revise the SDS within three months after becoming aware of significant new information about a chemical's hazards or protective measures.
- If the chemical is not currently being produced or imported, add the new information before the chemical is introduced into the workplace again.
- Provide an appropriate SDS with the initial shipment, with the first shipment after an SDS is updated, and when an employer or distributor requests one.
- Provide SDSs with the shipped containers or send the SDSs to the distributor or employer prior to or at the time of the shipment.
- Retail distributors selling hazardous chemicals to employers with commercial accounts must provide an SDS upon request and post a sign or otherwise inform employers that an SDS is available.
- Wholesale distributors selling hazardous chemicals to employers over the counter must provide an SDS upon request at the time of purchase and inform employers that an SDS is available.
If an employer without a commercial account purchases a hazardous chemical from a retail distributor not required to have SDS on file (i.e., the retail distributor does not have commercial accounts and does not use the materials), the retail distributor must provide the employer, upon request, with the name, address, and telephone number of the chemical manufacturer, importer, or distributor from which an SDS can be obtained.
Retail distributors who have informed chemical manufacturers, importers, and distributors that they neither sell the product to commercial accounts nor use it in their own workplaces by breaking the sealed container are not required to be provided with SDSs.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-8. After becoming aware of significant new information about a chemical, how soon must a manufacturer, importer, distributor, or employer add it to the SDS?
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