safety data sheet (SDS)

A safety data sheet (SDS) is a document that reports on the properties of a particular a material or chemical substance (chemical, chemical compound, chemical mixture) found in the workplace, how to use it safely, and what to do if there is an emergency involving this item. Examples of items requiring an SDS are paints, lubricants, chemicals, fertilizers, cleaning agents, and so forth.

Its purpose it to provide workers and emergency personnel with safe procedures for handling and working with a particular substance; accordingly, workers using a substance, supervisors, firefighters, doctors, occupational hygienists, safety supervisors, engineers, and environmental specialists may all refer to an SDS in the course of their daily work. SDSs are often posted in workplaces for employees' reference and are distributed to local hospitals, emergency response agencies, and fire departments.

An SDS typically includes the following information about a particular substance:

• physical properties (melting point, boiling point, flash point, etc.)
• constituent chemicals
• toxicity
• health hazards (for example, skin contact with strong acids causing burns)
• fire hazards (for example, propane can easily burn and can explode)
• reactivity hazards (for example, mixing ammonia and household bleach results in the release of a harmful gas.)
• the environmental impact of the material if it is released to the environment
• proper storage and disposal
• recommended protective equipment
• spill-handling and first aid procedures

SDS formats can vary from between countries depending on national requirements.

An SDS is also known as a material safety data sheet (MSDS) or a product safety data sheet (PSDS).

The Archibus Web Central Hazardous Materials application does not store all of the above information; instead, it focuses on storing SDS data for sorting, classifying, filtering, and retrieving the SDS sheets and providing summary analytics on the hazardous products. Once the user locates the Archibus SDS record, they can link to the manufacturer's web site for a PDF of the complete SDS provided by the manufacturer.