I doubt that St. Peter cares about MSDSs.

The flies in this ointment are that is PDF files may be unreadable 30-45 years from now, and—all those years later—it will be extremely difficult to match “exposure” with each chemical and employee based on your MSDS records. Good luck if you have to rely on them in court in the future, or in a future medical investigation.

My two cents…

Pete Reinhardt, Yale EHS

----- Original Message -----

From: Peifer, Patricia

To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 9:06 AM

Subject: [DCHAS-L] MSDS Retention

A debate has come up within our organization concerning the retention of MSDSs.  I have been saving old copies of MSDSs for which new revisions have been issued.   My understanding is that this would be proof that we did have the MSDS on file if an employee claimed twenty years later that they were exposed to a chemical and said we did not provide them with adequate information.   I planned on keeping them for thirty years. 

 

Others in my organization feel I may be wasting my time.  They feel I should be throwing out older versions and only retaining the latest copy particularly if the revisions were not significant.   They do agree however, that I should be keeping old MSDSs for chemicals for which we discontinue use. 

 

Any thoughts?  Thank you, everyone. 

 

Pat Peifer

Health Safety and Training Team Leader

West Pharmaceutical Services

 

 

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