MSDS Compliance: MSDS Software Vendors, Service Providers & More

People are wondering what is gonig on with the term MSDS which stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. Then what is SDS Authoring? SDS Stands for Safety Data Sheets. GHS has changed this word forever. GHS stands for the “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals”. GHS is a new system that defines and classifies the hazards of chemical products, and communicates heath and safety information on labels and material safety data sheets (now forth called Safety Data Sheets, or SDSs, in GHS). The goal is that the same set of rules for classifying hazards, and the same format and content for labels and safety data sheets (SDS) will be adopted and used around the world. An international team of hazard communication experts developed GHS under the United Nations.

Over time the term MSDS will slowly change to SDS due to the global impact which GHS will have on the regulatory and EH&S world.

To learn more about SDS Authoring or MSDS Authoring see MSDScompliance.com.

SAP to Acquire TechniData AG Acquisition of Long-Standing SAP Partner Will Help Accelerate SAP’s Sustainability Transformation

WALLDORF, Germany – April 21, 2010 – Continuing its focus on providing market-leading sustainability solutions to customers worldwide, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced its intent to acquire TechniData AG, the world’s leading provider of product safety and environmental, health and safety (EHS) solutions. Through this acquisition, SAP intends to expand its product portfolio as well as its market and thought leadership in sustainability.

Based in Markdorf, Germany, TechniData has been a strategic SAP partner for more than 15 years, and has helped shape SAP’s sustainability offerings in the EHS arena. Employing nearly 500 people, TechniData provides systems integration, managed EHS services, regulatory content and software to help companies comply with regulatory challenges in these areas. With SAP announcing its strategic commitment to sustainability in spring of 2009, this acquisition is the next logical step between two companies that are both driven by the belief that sustainability is core to all business processes in the future.

“SAP and TechniData have enjoyed a very productive, long-term relationship, and we are truly excited about joining the SAP family,” said Juergen Schwab, chief executive officer, TechniData AG. “We believe that the scale of SAP’s development and field resources combined with our expertise in the EHS and product safety domains can help us bring the value of sustainability to more customers worldwide.”

This acquisition is in line with SAP’s strategy to complement existing applications and solutions with smart purchases that offer innovative technologies and functional capabilities. The strategy is guided by careful market assessments and focuses on adding value to customers’ investments in SAP, expanding the company’s abilities to support customers and partners in their sustainability approach. Through the acquisition of TechniData, SAP gains both a more comprehensive service offering and the talents of accomplished employees with deep knowledge of customer processes as well as SAP products and integration technologies.

The SAP® EHS Management application helps companies address regulatory compliance in the areas of product, plant and people safety. It helps to reduce both EHS risks and compliance cost at the same time, a result unobtainable in traditional labor-intensive and error-prone non-IT-supported compliance processes. The solution is designed to natively integrate into SAP® Business Suite software.

“Sustainability is about holistically managing economic, environmental and social risks and opportunities. IT can help organizations execute their sustainability strategies in a way that drives short- and long-term profitability,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions, SAP. “SAP and TechniData share this comprehensive view of sustainability. As a result, our customers enjoy more homogeneity of their IT infrastructure, lower cost of integration, and cutting edge sustainability processes combined with comprehensive analytics and reporting capabilities.”

SAP anticipates that the acquisition will be completed in the beginning of the third quarter of 2010 and will provide additional details about future plans after the closing of the transaction. Terms and purchase price are not publicly disclosed.

About TechniData
TechniData is a leading provider of end-to-end solutions for Environment, Health and Safety (EHS). This includes solutions for Product Safety and Stewardship, Health and Safety as well as Environmental Performance. The company, which was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Markdorf at Lake Constance (Germany), helps around 1,600 customers worldwide to shape their business processes in a way that is sustainable, efficient and legally compliant. The TechniData portfolio includes process consulting, software, implementation, EHS expert services and knowledge-based content products providing information on laws, phrases, rules and report templates. TechniData and SAP AG have established a strategic development partnership for the SAP EHS Management software solution. In fiscal year 2008, TechniData recorded sales of EUR 64.9 million with a workforce of around 500 in Germany and abroad. The TechniData Group is represented through subsidiaries and branches in Europe, America and Asia. Further information is available at http://www.technidata.com.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 95,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (”SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Copyright © 2010 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

Note to editors:
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Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

For more information, financial community only:
Stefan Gruber, SAP, +49 (6227) 7-44872, investor@sap.com, CET
Martin Cohen, SAP, +1 (212) 653-9619, investor@sap.com, EDT

For more information, analysts only:
Somill Hwang, SAP, + 1 (650) 687-3685, somill.hwang@sap.com, PDT

For more information, press only:
Günter Gaugler, +49 (6227) 7-65416, guenter.gaugler@sap.com, CET
Shabana Khan, +1 (650) 461-1332, shabana.khan@sap.com, PDT
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, press@sap.com, EDT

http://www.sap.com/about/newsroom/press.epx?pressid=13085

MSDS Compliance has received some great ranking for several keywords on Yahoo and Bing. Due to our constant focus on SEO and keyword optimization we have achieved the following keyword ranking:

Keyword Yahoo (United States) position
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Keyword Bing position
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Let’s keep working together to push towards greater results. If you would like to link to our site please contact us at support@msdscompliance.com.

We are in the process of working on another project which we cannot discuss yet which will offer our partners / vendors even more exposure for their msds software or services.

Thank you for your initial support and we look forward to continuing this rapid expansion.

The MSDScompliance Team.

msds authoring classification flammable

The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Hazard Communication mandates that the manufacturer and employer that deal with hazardous chemicals must have Material Safety Devise Sheet (MSDS) information available and accessible to all employees for the prevention of future violations of safety measure in the workplace. These include the posting of MSDS in the workplace, in all sections and the storage of the MSDS in a microfiche. Violations of the MSDS policies may be fined to up to more than $70,000 per incident.
The difficulty in the compliance may have something to do with the fact that most of the companies who have violated the mandates do not 1) have enough cash to invest in an MSDS authoring software, 2) have the personnel to input the reliable and pertinent data, or 3) do not have the incentive to invest in an expensive MSDS authoring software or services company.
The first step to preventing OSHA violations is to make sure that your company has to invest in an MSDS authoring system. It is cheaper in the end as compared to when there are fines and litigations involved. MSDS authoring software is available with standardized electronic MSDS in a searchable index. What to look out for when searching for the right product to invest in is its compatibility to your already existing system. What is the use of the MSDS authoring software if you cannot install it into your computer? Searches available include Product Name, the most prevalently used Product Name Sounds Like menu, Manufacturer, Ingredients, and more. The MSDS authoring software you decide to use is automatically loaded into the active database from compact discs (CD), including many additional fields such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Hazards, and ingredient information.
Once an MSDS is loaded from the CD, it is simple to add any type of additional information, depending on your organization’s specific needs. While these MSDSs satisfy the Hazard Communication Standard, we recommend using the newest MSDS from the manufacturer available in the market today. The best part is that MSDS authoring software does it all for you! MSDS authoring have been made simpler, so there is now no room for the excuse of submitting an MSDS.
In order to have a successful MSDS authoring system, the company has to take into consideration that this is not mere secretarial work. Individuals spend their time going through college and continuing education to the study and research of chemical manufacturing, toxicology, etc., and still they are not considered as the last word to the subject. MSDS authoring takes a lot of time, money, and experience. Things that are not readily available to your company. With the purchase of MSDS authoring software or the utilization of MSDS authoring services, the problems faced by the companies will be eased.
MSDS authoring should adhere to the latest OSHA and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards and regulations. To complicate matters more, the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) is expected to be integrated into the current system. This will entail a whole new range of data that would have to be rebuilt from scratch. This alone would take up money and manpower to succeed.

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The Importance of MSDS Services

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is a mandatory requirement to all manufacturers and companies that deals with the production, handling and storage of hazardous chemicals initiated by the United Nations (UN) seven years ago. It was developed by the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) which classifies and labels chemical products into common and coordinated criteria well-suited to the requirements of MSDSs/SDSs. Its importance is tantamount to the safety and regulation of such hazardous chemicals and its effect on the environment and the end users. Inclusive are the pertinent data about a particular substance or chemical, its manufacturer, date of production, expiry, type and name of substance, compositions (physical and chemical), ingredients, boiling and melting points, chemical reactions, toxicity, storage and handling precautions, and protocols of how to effectively prevent accidents that may cause harm to the end user. The data can be entered and stored in microfiche by MSDS services or agencies and should be accessible and available to all persons.

The United States, Canada, Mexico and other countries have competent and competitive MSDS services or agencies that offer MSDS authoring services for Safety Data Sheets (SDS). These MSDS services or agencies offer to update and upgrade outdated MSDSs in to the new GHS MSDS/SDS. It is imperative that the choice of the MSDS services / agency which offers these services be professional and has the proper security to protect the data that you entrust them. Different countries around the world have a whole range of regulations congruent to the GHS that it is important to label them differently upon reaching the United States. Complying with the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) is taxing to the companies. The GHS MSDS/SDS requirements for the United States alone are still at its infancy and tracking and updating is very difficult. The use of MSDS authoring services will lessen the incidents of mistakes and misinterpretations. Other countries are still trying to adapt to the new demands and are still resistant to the changes.

The production, manufacture, and use of chemicals are considered as necessities worldwide. The GHS is entrusted to keep track of all pertinent data and has the task of making it simple enough to be globally accepted. These MSDS services / agencies should have the commitment to provide their clients first rate services despite all the challenges involved in the regulations pertaining to individual chemical products.

The MSDS services / agencies should offer these MSDS authoring services in: E.U. SDS Authoring (Fully compliant in the E.U.), NAFTA MSDS Authoring (Fully compliant in U.S., Canada and Mexico), OSHA/WHMIS MSDS Authoring (Fully compliant in U.S. and Canada), OSHA MSDS Authoring (Fully compliant in the United States) and WHMIS MSDS Authoring (Fully compliant in Canada).

All sectors involved in the manufacture and production of chemicals will have the information ready and accessible through these MSDS services / agencies. This is all for the protection of the health of the individuals who are the end users of these products. Making sure that the GHS is in charge of all aspects of the MSDS and its service agencies will make life safer and better for all.

The demands for the compliance of Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on the manufacturers and employers of chemical handling and supply by the Occupational Safety and Handling Administration (OSHA) are staggering. For some, it is simply a nightmare. Who can keep up with the fast paced research, manufacturing and production of chemicals in this day and age?

Everyone recognizes the logic behind the mandates, but from the point of view of the manufacturers and distributors or those who simply are involved in the storage and handling of the chemicals, it can be confusing, and a cause of despair. Needless to say, all these factors can contribute to mistakes, non-compliance of mandates, and preventable accidents. The attempt of some companies to develop their own MSDS software was at first cheaper and conformed to their needs. This did not last long when more and more products were made available, and more and more MSDS data were out of reach to the local companies.

Hence, the development of the MSDS software has been made available in the market for those who are in desperate need of help. The MSDS software has a load of data in it, including data entry, sales, handling, protocols, etc. Also, the MSDS software should include not only chemical production, but all types of production (i.e. food, paint, stain, etc.). It should include updated and exact labels of such products which are under the Environment Protection Agency and be able to meet the minimum standard requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). That is just to name a few.

There are a whole range of MSDS software sold in the market at staggering prices. There are also a multitude of vendors who sell their products with promises that can reach the heavens. Are they all good? Are they what one needs? Sometimes it is best to wait and poke around resources; search for forums that address your needs and find out from them on what is the best out there. Find the proper product before taking the plunge. Remember, buying an MSDS software is an investment. The one bought may not be the product that one is looking for. As an investment, an MSDS software should be treated as an asset to the company and not a liability.
Before buying and MSDS software, one must remember that not all MSDS softwares may be what is right for the needs required. Make sure that the vendor of such software is someone to be relied on, a partner that can help your company grow and not cause stagnation.

That said, here are some questions to answer before buying an MSDS software:

• Does the vendor meet all requirements in terms of sales, IT, technical or regulatory support?
• Is the vendor updated and able to provide with the latest provisions and technology, not just in the continental U.S. but also the other countries involved in chemical production?
• Can the vendor provide with the latest security measures of your investment?
• Is the software compatible with the system presently being used?
• If data entry can be provided by the vendor, how reliable is it?
• Are there hidden costs involved especially when there is a need in maintenance, or even an upgrade?

Having an efficient MSDS software as an investment will in the long run become an indispensible asset that should make the vendor a partner that can provide.

MSDS Software Vendors use social media to optimize their keyword ranking for MSDS Software, MSDS Authoring & More.
Check out the CEO of the MSDS Software vendor “The Wercs” below for your enjoyment.

The Wercs has been around for many years and continues to expand globally. They offer software for msds authoring along with value added services to enable global companies to exceed regualtory compliance standards.

We will continue to find great videos that relate to product compliance for your benefit.

MSDS Compliance Team.

Material Safety Data Sheet (MDSD) software is a software program in which information on the possible hazards posed by a chemical product or chemical substance when used by people is documented. Such potential hazards are fire hazards, effects from radioactivity, environmental hazards, and other types of harm that could potentially affect people’s health.  MSDS software not only documents information about these possible harms facing people resulting from use of a chemical product or substance, but also addresses proper handling of these substances to prevent the realization of these hazards, as well as how to remedy any occurrence of a resulting hazard.

Your regular, average Joe does not need MSDS software as he does not typically have direct access to or contact with the type of chemicals that pose such severe risks. Those who are in need of MSDS software are such people as workers who regularly encounter such chemical substances on a daily basis. Not only do these people need to fully understand the MSDS, but they should always carry around a copy of MSDS. Workers employed by chemical manufacturing factories, in the cleaning industry, or recycling industry, to name a few, are the types of people for whom MSDS software is applicable.

How Does MSDS Software Work?

MSDS Software is designed to create, manage and distribute material data safety sheets for chemicals. There are applications which interface with enterprise resource planning systems, as well as sale and inventory modules. Most MSDS software utilizes a standard set of rules, along with rules specific to each particular company using this software. They also most often use a process to classify products to generate the MSDS. Typically, MSDS software offers a feature for reporting pollutants which qualify as hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds, in compliance with the EPA and Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA). There is also available hosted MSDS software, which requires occasional maintenance and updates.

There are some nuances among the different types of this software.  Some offer tools for creating material data safety sheets which allow for the creation of technical data sheets, hazard labels and transport emergency cards. Some allow for product registration. Other features found in most MSDS software include the loading of documents, labeling of chemicals, template libraries specific to each country, and regulatory assessment on a global level.  The document loading feature provides chemical firms the ability to load archived material safety data sheets into new MSDS software.  There is also MSDS software that conducts chemical formulation assessments based upon global regulations and inventory requirements.

How to Determine Which MSDS Software is Right for You

When deciding which MSDS software is the right one for you, it is vital that you look at the management and distribution tools offered by each software company. Such management tools available with this type of software include role-based security, user-defined workflows, multi-tier SARA reporting, chemical management, formulation management, revision and formulation tracking, and tracking of each version of MSDS. Distribution tools available in MSDS software important to ensure that your documents get circulated throughout the company. There are some software applications where material safety data sheets are automatically circulated upon the creation of a sales order. On the other hand, other software is set up such that the user can determine exactly how distribution of such information will be handled. In keeping with modern times, there is also a feature in many MSDS software which provides for distribution of documentation via PDAs and special computer file formats (e.g., PDF, HTML).

If you care to spend some time online looking for msds’s you can find some for free. Many websites do this “leg word” for you so you are constantly provided with your supplier msds’s ontime in order to comply with OSHA and other regulations.