SDS Management Software
Upload your safety data sheets and Chemspark puts the data in your inventory: hazards, composition, limit values and transport. You see which SDSs are expiring, what a new version changes and which regulatory lists your substances are on.
What is SDS management?
SDS management means collecting, keeping current and using the safety data sheets (SDSs) of every hazardous product in a company. The SDS is the basis for the substance register, the risk assessment, the workplace instructions and the labels. Good SDS management means: the current SDS for every product, its data recorded in a register, and a clear view of what changes when a new version arrives.
The Safety Data Sheet Challenge
Managing safety data sheets by hand takes time and goes wrong easily. Familiar pain points:
Manual Data Entry
Copying hazards and composition from PDFs into spreadsheets costs hours every week, and a single typo carries through into your inventory and risk assessment.
Expired SDS Tracking
Suppliers issue new versions. Without an overview of revision dates, an outdated SDS only surfaces when someone asks for it.
Scattered Documents
SDSs on shared drives, in email attachments and in binders. Just when you need one, you can't find it.
Substances on Regulatory Lists
Looking up every substance on the SVHC, ZZS and CMR lists by hand is a lot of work, and a restricted substance easily slips through.
How SDS management works in Chemspark
Chemspark reads your SDSs, puts the data in your inventory and shows what needs attention. You check and decide.
Read SDSs without retyping
Upload an SDS as a PDF. Chemspark reads the product name, supplier, H, P and EUH statements, pictograms, signal word, composition with CAS numbers and the limit values per substance. That takes a few seconds, or up to a minute for a long SDS. Anything it can't read with confidence is marked 'Needs review'. A scanned SDS is always flagged.
See expiring SDSs in time
You set how long an SDS stays valid: 1 to 5 years from the revision date. Chemspark alerts you before an SDS expires. SDS updates lists every expired SDS by supplier, with a ready-made request letter.
New version? See what changes
When you choose 'Replace SDS', Chemspark compares the new SDS field by field with the old one. You see what changed and which risk assessment, workplace instruction card or GHS label it affects. Chemspark flags them; you update them. The old SDS stays in the Version History.
Ready for the risk assessment
The hazard and the vapour pressure come from the SDS. You answer a short screening about the task and Chemspark gives the outcome: safe, qualitative assessment needed or in-depth assessment needed. For each route (inhalation, skin, fire and explosion) you see a risk level with advice. You record the measures yourself.
Workplace instruction cards
Chemspark prepares a workplace instruction card per product with data from the SDS and the measures you recorded, in Dutch, English or both. You check it, adjust what's needed and print it.
One inventory for all your products
All your SDSs and product data in one place, by location and department. Search by name or CAS number and filter by department or 'Needs review', for example. Every SDS gets an eleven-point check (SDS quality), so you see which sheets to send back to the supplier.
Many SDSs at once, kits included
Upload up to 25 SDSs in one go, then check them one by one or confirm them all at once. If a kit comes in one PDF, such as resin and hardener, Chemspark turns it into separate, linked products.
GHS labels
Print GHS labels for the workplace straight from your inventory: pictograms, signal word and H and P statements in the official English or Dutch wording. Four sizes, up to nine labels per A4 sheet.
From SDS data to regulatory lists
Chemspark doesn't just store your SDSs. Every substance in the product is checked against the EU-wide lists that apply in every member state, plus the Dutch lists and your own:
- SVHC: substances of very high concern on the EU Candidate List (REACH)
- REACH Authorisation and Restrictions: substances on Annex XIV (authorisation required) and Annex XVII (restricted)
- CMR: carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, recognised from the product's H statements (category 2 included)
- ZZS (Netherlands): the Dutch environmental-policy list of substances of very high concern, with many more substances than the SVHC list
- SZW list (Netherlands): the Dutch lists of carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances, with the category shown on each match
- Custom lists: upload your own list in Excel or CSV, from a sector agreement to your country's national list, and your products are checked against it too
Every time you upload or replace an SDS, Chemspark checks all substances again. You see every match under Compliance and decide what to do. If a substance is added to a list later, you get a notification.
Frequently asked questions about SDS management
What does the law say about SDSs?
The supplier must provide an SDS with a hazardous product, in the language of the country, and update it as soon as there is new information on the hazards or their control (REACH, article 31). Employees must have access to that information (REACH, article 35). The employer uses the SDSs for the risk inventory: an overview of the hazardous substances and an assessment of exposure (in the Netherlands: Arbobesluit, article 4.2).
How long is an SDS valid?
An SDS has no fixed period of validity. The supplier must update it when there is new information, for example when the classification of a substance changes. That is why it makes sense to check with the supplier after a fixed period whether a newer version exists. In Chemspark you set that period yourself, from 1 to 5 years after the revision date.
What do you do with a new version of an SDS?
Check what has changed and what it means for the risk assessment, the workplace instruction card and the label. Chemspark compares a new SDS field by field with the old one and marks what needs another look. The old SDS is kept.
How do you know an SDS is in order?
At least check the revision date, whether all 16 sections are there and whether the SDS was revised after 1 January 2023, when a new format came into force. Chemspark checks every SDS on eleven points, from revision date to signal word. With the free SDS check you can try it with one of your own SDSs, without an account.
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