The production of Safety Data Sheets (also called “Material Safety Data Sheets” in the US) is a major issue for every chemical company in the world for three reasons. First, every chemical used in an industrial application must be accompanied by a document that describes each chemical, the hazards inherent in the ingredients, the proper first aid procedures, and numerous other technical details according to the laws of each country (OSH in the USA, WHMIS in Canada, COSH in the UK, and so on). The SDS sheets must be produced in the local language of the technician’s using them. And lastly, by law the data must be presented in a prescribed format – but different countries use different formats, so a European SDS looks very different from, say, a Canadian form, and contains different information, different safety symbols, and incorporates different safety regulations. The expansion of government-required reporting caused by the new REACH regulations in Europe has exacerbated the problem.

MicroCare continues to invest and grow despite the recession, which gives MicroCare the resources to add new technologies as they become cost-effective. In response to this burgeoning safety requirement,  MicroCare now has capabilities to provide a current data sheet for any MicroCare product in numerous Western languages as well as Chinese (Simplified).  All the documents are provided in PDF format. The system also links to the MicroCare graphics group which produces all of the artwork for the MicroCare cans and pails, so the safety information on the cans will automatically be updated and correct when labels are revised. Additional languages can be added as market requirements dictate.

The heart of the system is a proprietary database of MicroCare ingredients developed by the Technical Staff at MicroCare, coupled with a purchased database of international regulations and languages. Now as regulations or ingredients change it will take little more than a push of a button to issue and distribute a state-of-the-art Safety Data Sheet. This is a vast improvement of using local interpreters to convert English documents into local languages, with all the delays and inevitable errors such manual processing accumulates.

Because this capability is a new addition, MicroCare expects there will be a brief period while all the existing MSDS/SDS files are updating, inspected and approved, including the Chinese documents.  If you require an updated MSDS/SDS from MicroCare, please contact MicroCare and it will be given priority.