Chemical labels and safety data sheets

Skills you'll practise

• Identify the elements of a GHS-style chemical label and what each tells you
• Find the right section of a 16-section safety data sheet for first aid, spills, storage and PPE
• Label secondary containers as your site requires and refuse to use unlabeled chemicals
• Explain why local rules on labels, SDS and exposure limits must be checked

Course outline

1. 1.Chemical labels and safety data sheetsVideo · 2 min
2. 2.Reading a chemical labelLesson · 15 min
3. 3.Finding what you need in a safety data sheetLesson · 17 min
4. 4.Secondary containers, storage and incidentsLesson · 14 min
5. 5.Chemical labels and safety data sheets: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 26 questions
6. 6.The bottle marked 'DS'Scenario
7. 7.Final exam8 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)
• Your country's chemical labelling and hazard-communication rules (adoption of GHS varies by country)
• OSHA Brief: Hazard Communication Standard: Labels and Pictograms (OSHA 3636)
• OSHA Brief: Hazard Communication Standard: Safety Data Sheets (OSHA 3514)
• The supplier's safety data sheet for each product you use, and your site's hazard-communication procedure