Subject Guide: Hazardous Chemicals

MSDS

Material safety data sheets (MSDS) are product safety information sheets prepared by manufacturers and marketers of chemical products. MSDS contain information on toxicity, first aid, personal protection controls, storage and handling precautions spill and leak cleanup and disposal practices, transportation, physical data and reactivity data. For laboratory chemicals, obtain the MSDS from the manufacturer.

Vermont SIRI Website. http://hazard.com/msds/ (Accessed 5/16/08).

There is no specified format for the MSDS under the code of Federal Regulations, although there are specific information requirements. OSHA has developed a non-mandatory format, OSHA Form 174 (Accessed 5/16/08), which may be used by chemical manufacturers and importers to comply with the rule. In practice, most MSDS follow a specific order of presentation. See 19 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix E (Advisory)--Guidelines for Employer Compliance "B. Material Safety Data Sheets" for information on hazardous communication.

. Note the following sections:

  • Section 4. First Aid Measures.
  • Section 5. Fire Fighting Measures
  • Section 6. Accidental Release Measures
  • Section 8. Exposure Controls/Personal Protection
  • Section 10. Stability and Reactivity

Chemical Compatibility

Chemical Hazards Response Information System (CHRIS). U.S. Coast Guard. (Accessed 5/16/08)
Guide to Compatibility of Chemicals. (Accessed 5/16/08)

Chemical Reactivity Worksheet. Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, NOAA
(Accessed 5/16/08). Includes:
  • Database of reactivity information for more than 6,000 common hazardous chemicals. The database includes information about the special hazards of each chemical and about whether a chemical reacts with air, water, or other materials.
  • A web version of this worksheet is available as part of CAMEO Chemicals, http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/. (Accessed 5/16/08).
  • Permits virtual "mixing" of chemicals to find out what dangers could arise from accidental mixing.
  • Build a temporary list of chemicals and predict reactivity online.

Rutgers Laboratory Safety and Environmental Programs.

  • Chemical Compatibility Chart. (Accessed 5/16/08). A chart adapted from CRC Laboratory Handbook listing various chemicals in 23 groups with examples of compatability and incompatibility.
  • http://rehs.rutgers.edu/lswaste_epachem.htm (Accessed 5/16/08). Provides a summary table of EPA-600/2-80-076 April 1980 A METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE COMPATIBILITY OF CHEMICAL MIXTURES. Gives names of chemical classes with which the chosen class is incompatible. View EPA's Chemical Compatibility Chart to get details on the characteristics of a possible chemical reaction.

Emergency Responders Guide to Chemical Reactivity & Compatibility. Donald Drum, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002.
Chemistry Library Reference: T55.3 H3 D78 2002

Wiley guide to chemical incompatibilities. Richard P. Pohanish, Stanley A. Greene. Wiley, 2003.
Wendt Library, 2nd Floor: T55.3 H3 P647 2003

Chemicals

US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

US Department of Health and Human Services. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

US Environmental Protection Agency. TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory (Accessed 5/16/08).

US National Library of Medicine.

  • Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) (Accessed 5/16/08). Focuses on the toxicology of potentially hazardous chemicals.
  • Haz-Map - contains information about the health effects of exposure to chemicals and biologicals at work. (Accessed 5/16/08)
  • HSDB and Haz-Map are part of the National Library of Medicine's TOXNET.

Michigan State University. NFPA Chemical Hazards Labels (Accessed 5/16/08)

  • Searchable database of both flammable substances and hazardous chemicals and their National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) ratings as designated in NFPA Standard 704.
  • NFPA Rating Definitions (Accessed 5/16/08).

American Chemical Society, Committee on Chemical Safety. Chemistry Laboratory Information Profiles (CLIPs), courtesy of Journal of Chemical Education. (Accessed 5/16/08).

Boston University. Office of Environmental health and Safety. Time Weighted Average Calculator (Accessed 5/16/08).

  • Use this formula to determine a person's time-weighted average (TWA) for exposure to a chemical. Typically, this is assumed to be an 8-hour period to determine the compliance with OSHA PELs. However, the total time can be decreased to match the actual time of exposure, to calculate the worst-case scenario.

Chemical Warfare Agents. Environmental Health and Toxicology, National Library of Medicine. http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/chemicalwarfare.html (Accessed 5/16/08)

Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards P. G. Urban, 5th edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, London, 1995.
Chemistry Library Reference: T55.3 H3 B73 1995

Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials. R. J. Lewis, 10th edition, Wiley-Interscience, 2000.
Wendt Library Reference Collection: T55.3 H3 S3 2000
Chemistry Library Reference: T55.3 H3 S3 1996 (Note: 1996 edition)

Planning and Preparedness

Chemical Compatibility. Chemical Safety Program, U.S. Department of Energy.(Accessed 5/16/08).
This is a guide to setting up a compatibility chart BEFORE conducting a laboratory experiment.

US Department of Transportation. Office of Hazardous Materials.

American Chemical Society, Committee on Chemical Safety. Chemical Storage Resources. (Accessed 5/16/08).

CRC Handbook of Laboratory Safety. A. Keith Furr, 5th edition, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2000.
Chemistry Library Reference: QD51 H27 2000

United Nations. Office on Drugs and Crime. Guidelines for the Safe Handling and Disposal of Chemical used in the Illicit Manufacture of Drugs. New York, 2006. http://www.unodc.org/pdf/publications/st-nar-36.pdf (Accessed 5/16/08)
Chemistry Library: TP 150 S24 U55 2006

US Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Laboratories: Standards. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/laboratories/standards.html (Accessed 5/16/08)
Contains OSHA standards, standard interpretations (official letters of interpretation of the standards), and national consensus standards related to laboratories.

Handbook of Chemical Health and Safety. R. J. Alaimo, Ed., American Chemical Society, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001.
Chem Library Reference: T55.3 H3 H344 2001

Hazardous Laboratory Chemicals Disposal Guide. Margaret-Ann Armour. 3rd edition. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla. 2003.
Chemistry Library Reference: QD64 A76 2003

  • Includes information on disposal of small quantities of a large variety of chemical wastes. Each entry includes physical, chemical and physiological properties, hazardous reactions, and spill and waste disposal procedures.

Laboratory Health and Safety Dictionary. W. Carl Gottschall, Douglas B. Walters. Wiley-Liss, New York, 2001.
Chem Library Reference: QD63.5 G67 2001

  • Appendix A is an excellent list of abbreviations and acronyms.

Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Disposal of Chemicals. National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1995. Available through Knovel
NetLibrary Electronic Book: Search MadCat.
Chem Library: T55.3 H3 P78 1995

  • Chemical safety information for a limited number of chemicals, including lists of classes of incompatible chemicals, partial lists of incompatible combinations of specific chemicals, tables of compounds known to auto-oxidize to form peroxides, and a table on classes of chemicals that can form peroxides upon aging.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Section 16: Health and Safety Information. online.
Chem Lib Ready Ref shelf: latest edition

Training

Howard Hughs Medical Institute. "Online Safety Course" is no longer available! Safety training videos are available free of charge through their online catalog. http://www.hhmi.org/about/research/training.html (Accessed 5/16/08)

University of Minnesota. Hazardous Chemical Waste Management Guidebook. (Accessed 5/16/08).

UW-Madison Web Sites

UW-Madison Chemistry Department. Safety (Accessed 5/16/08).

UW-Madison Safety Department

UW-System Safety and Loss Prevention - Occupational Safety and Health . (Accessed 5/16/08).

Article Databases

Use Find It to locate an electronic journal (includes journals cataloged in MadCat, plus many more) and/or an article if you have the citation. See Chemistry Journals for more information.