Chemical Safety Data Sheets

Safety Data Sheets (SDS) should be managed in the Documents module in QSToolbox, because they are external documents that need to be controlled. In older systems, these documents might be referred to as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

You can easily retrieve a Register of Chemicals or an SDS register by filtering your Documents by Type.

Use the document Due Date to trigger a reminder for when the SDS should be reviewed or updated.

How to Upload SDS

If it's not already in the drop-down menu options, add a document Type for Safety Data Sheets.

For an SDS for a new chemical, add a new document and upload the Safety Data Sheet as a file. Use the chemical or product name as the document name so that it will appear in the documents register.

Update the existing document if there's already an SDS in your system for that chemical.

When you enter the revision information, make sure you match what is shown on the document itself:

You may want to use the document description field to add information about where and/or how this chemical is used at your organisation. It may also be helpful to show important hazard information so it's visible without having to open the attached file.

Create links between the SDS and other content in QSToolbox, such as a Risk Assessment, or a procedure for using the chemical, with 'Related Items'. These links make it easy for people to find relevant information in your system.

When the SDS is approved and released, set the due date to be 5 years from the SDS issue date so you'll receive a reminder when it's time to update the information.

Hazardous vs non-hazardous SDS

If you need to be able to pull up a register of only hazardous chemicals as well as a general chemical register, you can create document sub-types.

Add a Document Type for 'Hazardous' and select 'Safety Data Sheets' as the parent type.

You can have more than one child term. e.g.,

The hierarchy of document types allows you to search by the parent type ' Safety Data Sheets' to return a Chemicals Register showing all SDS, or to search by the child term ' Safety Data Sheets > Hazardous' to return a Hazardous Chemicals Register.

How to create a more detailed Chemicals Register

If you need a more complex chemicals register with particular details presented as a table, you'll need to combine a Form and a Register.

The actual Safety Data Sheets should still be stored as controlled documents in the Documents module and you'll link to the document in each register record.

A larger organisation might use the same Form with several Registers, each assigned to a different area manager to collect chemicals data at different locations. Collated form data can be exported to generate a report on total quantities across all areas.

1. Define the Form

First create a Form and add fields for the information you want to collect:

Use the "Module" field to be able to select the corresponding SDS in the Documents module:

2. Create a Register, and add Records.

Next add a Register in the Registers module and select your Form.

Each new Record added to the Register will use the defined form fields to collect the required data, and the register view will display the information in a table:

The table can be sorted and there's a also basic search function.

You can export these Register records to csv/Excel, and you can also export Form responses from the Forms module.