[CAUT] Material data safety sheets

[Fred Sturm]

Yes, you are right, it is unlikely anyone will notice - nobody is  
likely to find me in this maze of a university. It is an OSHA  
requirement, meaning it's federally enforced (against the employer),  
"protecting us workers." We recently had a required on line training  
requirement, including things like sexual harassment, ethics, and  
workplace safety. And it was made pretty clear there that the  
responsibility for obtaining these MDSDs is on the purchaser of the  
items (according to the U anyway), and that it even included things  
like, specifically, isopropyl alcohol. I have sort of known that all  
along, and have just figured I'd stay under the radar, and that is  
probably mostly what I'll do. But I did ask for sheets on McLube and  
Protek and a couple other things from Pianotek.
	BTW, looking for a McLube 444 MDSD on line, I went to the  
manufacturer McGee's site (mclube.com), and found that the vehicle is  
n-Propyl Bromide, a substitute for ozone depleting chemicals that is,  
as most of us have heard, pretty toxic. Not particularly flammable,  
though, apparently.
	I checked our work safety website, and they don't seem to have a  
subscription to an on line source.
Fred

On Mar 5, 2010, at 1:25 PM, Jim Busby wrote:

> Fred,
>
> Ditto what Dave said.
>
> I hate to say it this way, but what happens if you’re in violation?  
> They will probably just tell you to get the sheets.  Not trying to  
> give bad advice here, but we have a sheet simply listing all our  
> hazmat and the inspectors looked at it, and that was all they  
> needed. Of course, we’re private and not government run…
>
> Best,
> jim
>
>
>
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf  
> Of Porritt, David
> Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 1:06 PM
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Material data safety sheets
>
> Fred:
>
> There are on-line sources for the MSDS sheets like this one.  The  
> cost is $349 per year for unlimited access.  If the University is  
> requiring it, they may already have a subscription to this or some  
> other on-line source.
>
> We had that requirement 2 Facilities directors ago, and it might  
> still be a “requirement” but it hasn’t been “required” for some years.
>
> dave
>
>
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> dporritt at smu.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf  
> Of Fred Sturm
> Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 12:45 PM
> To: College & University Technicians
> Subject: [CAUT] Material data safety sheets
>
>      University policy requires that I have on file material data  
> safety
> sheets for all, meaning really all, chemicals. Not that anyone has
> come looking, but it is clearly policy and that is probably true for
> most of us. Does anyone know of a fairly central place one can go for
> such things? Does anyone have a collection of them that could be made
> available?
>      Since we all use a lot of the same range of materials, it would  
> make
> sense for us to pool efforts. Going to each manufacturer is a lot of
> work. Especially when it comes to all the variety. I'm looking at
> things like isopropyl alcohol, fabric softener, lacquer, Cory Key-
> brite, Mclube, Protek, various thinners, glues and adhesives of
> various sorts, the list is seemingly endless. Some are actually toxic
> in various ways, and the safety concerns are real.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
>
>
>
>
>

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100305/548e1e05/attachment-0001.htm>