Workplace instruction cards (WIC): from SDS to an instruction people on the shop floor actually read

An operator about to open a drum of degreaser is not going to read a fourteen-page safety data sheet first. Nor should they have to: the SDS is written for the prevention officer and the safety professional. The person working with the substance needs something else. They need to see at a glance what the hazard is, what to wear, how to work and what to do when something goes wrong. That is the workplace instruction card (WIC, in Dutch the werkplekinstructiekaart). A good card is short, concrete and matches the current SDS. In practice we often see the opposite.

What the law asks for

Dutch law does not mention the workplace instruction card by name. The duty behind it is there, though. The Working Conditions Act (Arbowet, article 8) requires employers to inform workers effectively about their work and the risks that come with it. For hazardous substances, the Working Conditions Decree (Arbobesluit) spells this out in article 4.10: workers receive information and instruction about the substances they work with, their risks and the measures they must take to protect themselves and others. They must also have access to the safety data sheets.

A binder of SDSs in the canteen covers that last part, but not the rest. Informing workers means the information reaches the person handling the substance, at the moment it matters. That is why the instruction card has become the standard format: one card per product, posted where the work happens. An inspector does not only check whether you have the safety data sheets, but also whether workers know how to handle the substances safely. An instruction card is one way to show that, although it does not replace the conversation on the shop floor.

SDS, risk assessment and instruction card: three layers

The SDS describes the product: its hazards, its properties and general advice. It knows nothing about your workplace.

The risk assessment translates that to your situation: this task, this quantity, this ventilation. This is where you choose the control measures, following the hierarchy of controls.

The instruction card translates the outcome back into instruction: what the worker actually has to do. So it is not a summary of the SDS, but the end point of your assessment.

That distinction is the heart of it. A card that just shortens the SDS says "ensure adequate ventilation". A card that follows your risk assessment says "use only in the spray booth, with the extraction switched on". The second is an instruction. The first is a wish.

What belongs on a good instruction card

Identification. The product name as it appears on the packaging, and the supplier. The worker must be able to match the card to the drum or can without any doubt.

The main hazards. The GHS pictograms and the signal word, with the hazards in plain language. Not "H314" but "causes severe skin burns and eye damage". Stick to the hazards that matter for the work, ideally no more than four or five.

Personal protective equipment. As specific as the SDS allows. "Wear suitable gloves" helps nobody. Section 8 often names the material and the breakthrough time, for example nitrile or butyl rubber. Put that on the card, with a pictogram for each item of PPE.

During work. The working method and the control measures from your risk assessment: extraction on, lid closed after use, never mix with acids. This is the part most often missing, because it is not in the SDS.

In an emergency. First aid per exposure route (eyes, skin, inhalation, ingestion), the right extinguishing media and what to do after a spill. Short, and in the order you will need it.

Storage. Where the product is kept and which substances it must be kept apart from.

Contacts and date. The internal number of the emergency response team or the supervisor, the emergency number, and the date the card was posted. That way you can always trace which version of the SDS it is based on.

What to leave off

An instruction card gets worse the more you put on it. Leave out ecological information, toxicological values, the full list of P-statements and the transport details. Those belong in your dossier, not on the wall.

One detail we come across often in the Netherlands: the phone number of the National Poisons Information Centre (NVIC) on the card. Well meant, but that information line is for doctors and pharmacists, not for workers on the floor. Someone on the floor calls 112 or the internal emergency team. Those are the numbers that belong on the card.

Four mistakes we see in practice

The card is a copy of the SDS. Sections 2 and 8 pasted onto an A4 sheet in small print. Nobody reads it, and the working method from the risk assessment is not on it.

The card lags behind the SDS. The supplier has revised the sheet and the classification has changed, but the card on the wall is from three years ago. Every new SDS version should trigger a check of the card.

One card for a whole product group. "Cleaning agents" on a single card looks efficient, but the hazards and the PPE differ per product. The SDS is product-specific, so the card is too.

The language does not fit the shop floor. If your workers read English better than Dutch, a Dutch-only card does not do its job. A bilingual card often solves that.

How to keep your instruction cards in order

1. Make a card for every hazardous product used on the shop floor. Start with the products that came out highest in your risk assessment.

2. Base the card on the current SDS and on your risk assessment. Hazards and first aid from the SDS, working method and measures from your assessment.

3. Post it where the work happens. At the workstation or the storage area, not in a binder in the office. Record when it was posted.

4. Talk it through. A card does not replace instruction. Go through it with the workers, for example in a toolbox meeting.

5. Check it with every new SDS version and every change in working method. An outdated card is worse than no card, because it gives a confidence that is not justified.

How Chemspark helps

In Chemspark, the instruction card follows from the SDS and the risk assessment you have already made. The hazards, pictograms, first aid and PPE come from the data in the SDS. The measures you record in the risk assessment appear on the card as the working method: if you record that a wood stain is only applied with a long spray lance inside the booth, that is exactly what the card says. You review the card, adjust it where needed and print it on A4, in Dutch, in English or bilingual. The QR code on the card opens the current version on a phone. When a new version of the SDS comes in, Chemspark marks the card as outdated, so you know exactly which cards on the wall need replacing. That keeps the line from SDS to assessment to instruction traceable, all the way to the workstation.