M S D S

MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet, a document all about safety. It tells you the information about the potential health effects of exposure, safety guidelines, and hazard evaluations on the use, storage, handling and emergency procedures all related to that material.

Each chemical or gas currently used in NFF must have its corresponding MSDS filed in a yellow folder at each "Right to Know Center" in the Laboratory located in 3 areas:

the entrance to the corridor, the rare door in Class 1000 beside the wetstation Y in Class 100 (Yellow Room)

The aim of such installation is to provide users with information on:

1. what the hazards of the product are,
2. how to use the product safely,
3. what to expect if the recommendations are not followed,
4. what to do if accidents occur,
5. how to recongnize symptoms of overexposure, and
6. what to do if such incident occur.

On the MSDS there are eight categories of information:

1. product information: product identifier (name), manufacturer and suppliers names, addresses, and emergency phone numbers
2. Hazardous Ingredients
3. Physical Data
4. Fire or Explosion Data
5. Reactivity Data: information on the chemical instability of a product and the substances it may react with
6. Toxicological Properties: health effects
7. Preventative Measures
8. First Aid Measures

So important and valuable is the MSDS that it is obligatory to submit a copy of MSDS to NFF management for approval when a new chemical needs to be brought in.

MSDS Link for the Chemicals used in the NFF Lab,