Material safety data sheets (MSDS) are documents that travel with chemicals and substances to convey information about their safe handling, storage and disposal. OSHA set the original provisions for MSDSs in the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 1994). Because no formatting guidelines were set, several MSDS formats and styles appeared, the most common being an OSHA 8-section version and ANSI 16-section version.
In an effort to align safety data sheet (SDS) information with the mission of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) to more easily convey information about chemicals and their hazards, OSHA set the standard for the adoption of a 16-section SDS, similar to the ANSI version with some changes, in the Revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 2012).
In short, HazCom 2012 includes the dropping of the letter “M” from MSDS to create a simplified name, and the use of 16-section SDSs that work in tandem with new hazard statements, labels and pictograms.
