Hazardous substances in small businesses: where it goes wrong between SDS and workplace

Around 3,000 people in the Netherlands die each year because they were exposed to hazardous substances at work. The Dutch minister wrote this in March 2026, answering questions from parliament. Most of these deaths come from diseases that show up years later: 80% of them are people who have already retired. And it is in small and medium-sized businesses that substance management most often falls behind.

What the figures show

The same answers give figures from RIVM, the Dutch public health institute, and the Netherlands Labour Authority:

• 1 in 6 employees deals with hazardous substances at work: over 1 million people.
• 46% of companies with a risk of exposure take no or insufficient measures (Arbo in Bedrijf 2022–2023).
• The risk exists at 1 in 3 smaller companies. Almost half of those do not control it well enough (Labour Authority, 2025).

Source: Aanhangsel Handelingen Tweede Kamer 2025–2026, no. 1195.

The information is usually there. Every hazardous product comes with a safety data sheet (SDS), and it holds much of what is needed. Things go wrong in the steps after that.

Why small businesses fall behind

A large company often employs a safety professional or occupational hygienist. In a small company, someone handles substances on top of their actual job. SDSs end up spread across mailboxes and binders, the Excel register falls behind and the exposure assessment never gets done.

On top of that, the damage is not visible right away. A cut shows the same day. An occupational disease from years of exposure often appears only when someone has long moved on or retired. What doesn't feel urgent slides down the list.

The chain from SDS to workplace

What the law asks comes down to a chain. Each link builds on the one before. If one breaks, everything after it is no longer right either. The articles below are the Dutch ones; most EU countries have similar rules.

1. A complete, up-to-date SDS

The supplier must provide an SDS with a hazardous product (REACH, article 31). An SDS that is missing, outdated or incomplete is a weak basis for everything that follows.

Where it goes wrong: SDSs are filed, but nobody checks whether they are still current. An SDS that is years old can miss hazards that were added later.

2. A register of what you have

The risk inventory (RI&E) asks which hazardous substances the company has and where they are used. A substance register is the basis for that: per product the hazards, the ingredients and where it is kept.

Where it goes wrong: the register is filled once and never updated. New products don't make it in, old ones stay.

3. An exposure assessment

Hazard is not the same as risk. A highly hazardous product used now and then in small amounts can pose less risk than a less hazardous one someone works with for hours every day. So the employer assesses how employees are exposed: by breathing or through the skin, how often and for how long (Arbobesluit, article 4.2).

Where it goes wrong: the assessment stops at the hazards on the SDS. How the work is actually done on the floor is never looked at.

4. Measures in the right order

The occupational hygiene strategy sets an order. First tackle the source: replace with a less hazardous product or work differently. Then measures at the workplace, such as local exhaust ventilation. Then organisational measures. Only after that personal protective equipment (Arbowet, article 3; Arbobesluit, article 4.4).

Where it goes wrong: PPE becomes the first and only measure. Gloves and a mask are quick to arrange, but they only protect when they suit the substance and are worn properly.

5. Instruction on the work floor

Employees must know which hazards they work with and what to do (Arbowet, article 8). An SDS of ten pages or more in a binder in the office does not help with that. A short workplace instruction card next to the product does.

Where it goes wrong: the instruction is missing, or has been on the wall for years and no longer matches the product or the way of working.

6. Keeping up when something changes

Suppliers issue new SDS versions, for example when the classification of a substance changes. Then everything based on the SDS needs another look: the assessment, the measures, the instruction and the label.

Where it goes wrong: the new SDS goes into the binder, but nobody checks what it means for the rest.

Where to start?

If you are behind, you don't have to do everything at once. This order works:

1. Map which products you have. Walk the workplaces and the storeroom and make a list. Products no longer in use can go.

2. Collect the SDSs and check the date. Is one missing, or old? Ask the supplier for the current version.

3. Decide where to start. Start with the products with the most serious hazards, such as carcinogens, and with the most exposure: frequent use, long tasks, open handling.

4. Work through the chain per product. Assessment, measures, instruction. Ten products done well beat a hundred done halfway.

5. Agree who keeps it up. Who makes sure a new product or a new SDS goes through the chain again?

How Chemspark helps

Chemspark follows this chain. It reads SDSs and builds a substance register per location from them. Whatever it is not sure about gets the label 'Needs review'. A short screening shows which products need a further assessment, and a worklist shows what still needs doing. Chemspark checks ingredients against lists including the SZW list, the Dutch ZZS list and the SVHC list. It prepares workplace instruction cards and GHS labels. When a new version of an SDS arrives, it shows which assessment, card or label needs another look.

The user adds how the work is done in practice, checks the results and decides on the measures. Chemspark does the groundwork; the assessment and the decision stay with the employer.

Want to see first how complete your SDSs are? The free SDS check reviews one SDS without an account.