SDS

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INSTRUCTIONS. JUDGEMENTS AS TO THE SUITABILITY OF INFORMATION HEREIN FOR THE INDIVIDUAL’S
OWN USE OR PURPOSES ARE NECESSARILY THE INDIVIDUAL’S OWN RESPONSIBILITY. ALTHOUGH
REASONABLE CARE HAS BEEN TAKEN IN THE PREPARATION OF SUCH INFORMATION, AS MANUFACTURER OR
DISTRIBUTOR, WE EXTEND NO WARRANTIES, MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS, AND ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY
AS TO THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF SUCH INFORMATION FOR APPLICATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL’S
PURPOSES OR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ITS USE.
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
A large number of abbreviations and acronyms appear on a MSDS. Some of these, which are commonly used, include the following:
CAS #: This is the Chemical Abstract Service Number that uniquely identifies each compound.
ACGIH - American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, a
professional association which establishes exposure limits.
TLV - Threshold Limit Value - an airborne concentration of a substance that
represents conditions under which it is generally believed that nearly all
workers may be repeatedly exposed without adverse effect. The duration must
be considered, including the 8-hour Time Weighted Average (TWA), the 15-
minute Short Term Exposure Limit, and the instantaneous Ceiling Level (C).
Skin absorption effects must also be considered.
OSHA - U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
PEL - Permissible Exposure Limit - This exposure value means exactly the
same as a TLV, except that it is enforceable by OSHA. The OSHA
Permissible Exposure Limits are based in the 1989 PELs and the June, 1993
Air Contaminants Rule (Federal Register
: 58: 35338-35351 and 58: 40191).
Both the current PELs and the vacated PELs are indicated. The phrase,
“Vacated 1989 PEL,” is placed next to the PEL that was vacated by Court
Order.
IDLH - Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health - This level represents a
concentration from which one can escape within 30-minutes without suffering
escape-preventing or permanent injury. The DFG - MAK is the Republic of
Germany’s Maximum Exposure Level, similar to the U.S. PEL. NIOSH is
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, which is the research
arm of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
NIOSH issues exposure guidelines called Recommended Exposure Levels
(RELs). When no exposure guidelines are established, an entry of NE is made
for reference.
HAZARD RATINGS:
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM: Health
Hazard: 0 (minimal acute or chronic exposure hazard); 1 (slight acute or
chronic exposure hazard); 2 (moderate acute or significant chronic exposure
hazard); 3 (severe acute exposure hazard; onetime overexposure can cause
permanent injury and may be fatal); 4 (extreme acute exposure hazard;
onetime overexposure can be fatal). Flammability Hazard
: 0 (minimal hazard);
1 (materials that require substantial pre-heating before burning); 2 (combustible
liquid or solids; liquids with a flash point of 38-93°C [100-200°F]); 3 (Class IB
and IC flammable liquids with flash points below 38°C [100°F]); 4 (Class IA
flammable liquids with flash points below 23°C [73°F] and boiling points
below 38°C [100°F]. Reactivity Hazard
: 0 (normally stable); 1 (material that
can become unstable at elevated temperatures or which can react slightly with
water); 2 (materials that are unstable but do not detonate or which can react
violently with water); 3 (materials that can detonate when initiated or which
can react explosively with water); 4 (materials that can detonate at normal
temperatures or pressures).
NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION: Health Hazard
: 0
(material that on exposure under fire conditions would offer no hazard beyond
that of ordinary combustible materials); 1 (materials that on exposure under
fire conditions could cause irritation or minor residual injury); 2 (materials
that on intense or continued exposure under fire conditions could cause
temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury); 3 (materials that can on
short exposure could cause serious temporary or residual injury); 4 (materials
that under very short exposure could cause death or major residual injury).
Flammability Hazard and Reactivity Hazard
: Refer to definitions for
“Hazardous Materials Identification System”.
FLAMMABILITY LIMITS IN AIR:
Much of the information related to fire and explosion is derived from the
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Flash Point
- Minimum
temperature at which a liquid gives off sufficient vapors to form an ignitable
mixture with air. Autoignition Temperature
: The minimum temperature
required to initiate combustion in air with no other source of ignition. LEL
-
the lowest percent of vapor in air, by volume, that will explode or ignite in the
presence of an ignition source. UEL
- the highest percent of vapor in air, by
volume, that will explode or ignite in the presence of an ignition source.
TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION:
Possible health hazards as derived from human data, animal studies, or from
the results of studies with similar compounds are presented. Definitions of
some terms used in this section are: LD
50 - Lethal Dose (solids & liquids)
which kills 50% of the exposed animals; LC
50 - Lethal Concentration (gases)
which kills 50% of the exposed animals; ppm concentration expressed in parts
of material per million parts of air or water; mg/m
3
concentration expressed in
weight of substance per volume of air; mg/kg quantity of material, by weight,
administered to a test subject, based on their body weight in kg. Other
measures of toxicity include TDLo, the lowest dose to cause a symptom and
TCLo the lowest concentration to cause a symptom; TDo, LDLo, LDo, TC,
TCo, LCLo, and LCo, the lowest dose (or concentration) to cause lethal or
toxic effects. BEI - Biological Exposure Indices, represent the levels of
determinants which are most likely to be observed in specimens collected from
a healthy worker who has been exposed to chemicals to the same extent as a
worker with inhalation exposure to the TLV. Ecological Information: EC is
the effect concentration in water.
Data from several sources are used to evaluate the cancer-causing potential of
the material. The sources and ratings are: IARC - the International Agency
for Research on Cancer; 1 = Carcinogenic to humans, 2A, 2B = Probably
carcinogenic to humans, 3 = Unclassifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans,
and 4 = Probably not carcinogenic to humans. NTP - the National
Toxicology Program; K =Known to be a human carcinogen, and R =
Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. RTECS - the Registry of
Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances. OSHA - Occupational Safety and
Health Administration and CAL/OSHA - California’s subunit of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Ca = Carcinogen defined with
no further categorization. ACGIH – American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienists; A1 = Confirmed human carcinogen, A2 = Suspected
human carcinogen, A3 = Confirmed animal carcinogen with unknown
relevance to humans, A4 = Not classifiable as a human carcinogen, and A5 =
Not suspected as a human carcinogen. NIOSH – U.S. National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health; Ca = Potential occupational carcinogen, with
no further categorization. EPA – U.S. Environmental Protection; A = Human
carcinogen, B = Probable human carcinogen, C = Possible human
carcinogen, D = Not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity, E = Evidence
of Non-carcinogenicity for humans, K = Known human carcinogen, L =
Likely to produce cancer in humans, CBD = Cannot be determined, NL =
Not likely to be carcinogenic in humans, and I = Data are inadequate for an
assessment of human carcinogenic potential.
REGULATORY INFORMATION:
This section explains the impact of various laws and regulations on the
material. EPA is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. WHMIS is the
Canadian Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. DOT and TC
are the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Transport Canada,
respectively. Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA); the
Canadian Domestic/Non-Domestic Substances List (DSL/NDSL); the U.S.
Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA); Marine Pollutant status according to the
DOT; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund); and various state regulations. This
section also includes information on the precautionary warnings that appear on
a material’s industrial package label.