Overview#
A Safety Data Sheet tells you how to handle a chemical safely. It is a structured document with 16 sections, and the format is set by REACH. You may also see the older name MSDS, material safety data sheet.
The sheet pulls together the hazards, the precautions, first-aid and firefighting measures, storage advice and disposal guidance for a chemical. The hazard classification it reports follows CLP.
The 16 sections#
Every sheet follows the same numbered structure, in the same order, whichever supplier wrote it. That is the point of a set format: you never search a sheet, you go straight to a number.
The 16 sections answer four questions, in order. Knowing the four blocks is enough to navigate any sheet without memorising the list.
Sections 1 to 3. Who supplies it, what it is called, what it is made of.
Sections 4 to 8. First aid, fire, spills, storage, protective equipment.
Sections 9 to 12. Physical properties, stability, effects on people and on the environment.
Sections 13 to 16. Disposal, transport, regulatory status, everything else.
| # | Section |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identification of the substance or mixture and of the supplier |
| 2 | Hazards identification |
| 3 | Composition and information on ingredients |
| 4 | First-aid measures |
| 5 | Firefighting measures |
| 6 | Accidental release measures |
| 7 | Handling and storage |
| 8 | Exposure controls and personal protection |
| 9 | Physical and chemical properties |
| 10 | Stability and reactivity |
| 11 | Toxicological information |
| 12 | Ecological information |
| 13 | Disposal considerations |
| 14 | Transport information |
| 15 | Regulatory information |
| 16 | Other information |
Section titles as set by REACH Annex II.
The three sections compliance actually reads#
Most of a sheet is written for the person handling the chemical. Three sections are written for the person answering a compliance question.
A common mistake is to stop at section 2. A substance can sit on the Candidate List without changing how the mixture is classified, so a clean section 2 is not an SVHC answer. Section 3 and section 15 are.
Who supplies one, and in what language#
The supplier of a substance or mixture provides the sheet to the recipient free of charge when the substance or mixture is classified as hazardous, and in further cases such as a substance on the Candidate List. The supplier updates it as soon as new information changes what it says.
Under REACH the sheet is supplied in an official language of each Member State where the substance or mixture is placed on the market. That is why a German buyer can require a German sheet from a supplier who otherwise works in English.
Substances and mixtures, not articles#
An SDS is written for a substance or a mixture, the chemicals themselves. It is not written for an article, meaning a finished object whose shape defines its function more than its chemistry. A bottle of solvent gets an SDS; a moulded plastic part on its own does not.
Extended SDS#
For substances registered under REACH, the sheet can come with exposure scenarios attached, describing the conditions for safe use. This longer version is called an extended SDS, or eSDS.