Regulatory compliance for chemical, cosmetic and biocidal products.
CHEMICALS
Safety Data Sheets
Services
Alchemy Compliance has extensive experience in authoring EU compliant safety data sheets (SDSs). The service includes checking the classification of ingredients, against mandatory classifications in Annex 1 (67/548/EEC), and against available information for self-classified substances. UK SDSs are compiled with reference not only to legislation but also guidance documents such as the UK Approved Code of Practice.
Manufacturers, distributors, and importers of dangerous substances that appear in EINECS are obliged to make themselves aware of the relevant and accessible data concerning the properties their products. Alchemy Compliance can fulfil this obligation on your behalf, through literature searching and structure–activity relationships. This also fulfils the ‘due diligence’ requirement (Regulation 15 of UK CHIP legislation), which is a defence in any proceedings for an offence in contravention of the provisions of UK CHIP Regulations.
SDS can also be tailored for individual EU Member State (MS) countries, including specific MS information such as the German WGK classifications and MAK values, and translation into national languages.
Alchemy Compliance also offers authoring services for US, Swiss, and Australian SDSs, in compliance not only with legislative requirements, but also with current guidance and best practices. SDSs for other territories may be available on request.
SDSs can be provided in your designated format, or supplied on our template.
Further information
Hazard Communication
Hazard Communication deals with hazard data, not risk, and so a company uses the safety data sheet (SDS) supplied with a dangerous substance to perform an evaluation of risk in the workplace (eg under the UK COSHH Regulations).
Hazard communication is a central part of the EU Dangerous Substances Directive (67/548/EEC), and is enacted in the UK as part of the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) (CHIP) Regulations, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Regulations describe how substances and preparations should be classified for their intrinsic hazards, the requirements for labels and packaging, and how hazard information should be communicated to users by means of SDSs.
It is the responsibility of all suppliers to ensure that dangerous substances have are classified, packaged and labelled in the manner set out in the Regulations. The supplier should provide an SDS to his customer in the following circumstance:
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Substances or preparations classified as dangerous
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Preparations not classified as dangerous but containing >1% w/w of a dangerous substance (>0.2% v/v for gaseous preparations), or a substance with a EU workplace exposure limit (when requested by a professional user). The level of detail on the safety data sheet may be lower than that for classified preparations, but should be sufficient to ensure a safe use by the recipient.
In all cases, the suppliers of a chemical that requires an SDS have the responsibility for its contents, even though they may not have prepared the SDS themselves. The duty is not absolute, but the supplier must exercise due diligence and be able to show that they have taken reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of the information in the SDS. According to the Regulations, the SDS should be prepared by a competent person.
Safety Data Sheets are designed to allow the employer to protect workers and the environment by providing information under 16 headings:
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Identification of the substance/preparation and company/undertaking
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Composition/information on ingredients
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Hazards identification
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First-aid measures
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Fire-fighting measures
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Accidental release measures
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Handling and storage
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Exposure controls/personal protection
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Physical and chemical properties
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Stability and reactivity
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Toxicological information
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Ecological information
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Disposal considerations
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Transport information
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Regulatory information
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Other information
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