Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) are supplied by the manufacturer and are used to evaluate the hazards of a chemical. The Environmental Health & Safety Department has a copy of all MSDSs sent to the department by individual researchers and vendors. In addition, a CD-ROM is available in EH&S which lists ninety nine thousand (99,000) compounds by chemical name and CAS number. If your department is missing a MSDS on chemicals stored or used in your laboratory, EH&S can supply you with a copy.
There are several MSDS sites available on the WWW:
The OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.1200 requires that chemical manufacturers, importers and distributors label their containers of hazardous chemicals. Therefore, each container coming onto the Rice campus should already be labeled, tagged or marked with the following information:
No unlabeled chemical storage containers should be permitted to exist in the laboratory, at the job site, or to be placed in any company vehicle. All portable containers shall be labeled similar to the original container, including the name and hazard classification of the material.
A chemical inventory list should be maintained in the laboratory at all times. When new chemicals are obtained, the chemical name should be entered in the chemical inventory log.