Australia's Science Forum

I have to update all my SDS's when I get time. But I wonder if anyone at my school ever looks at them apart from me. And I rarely do. I guarantee if there is an issue/incident the teachers will just google it. They wont look up an SDS. RiskAssess does all the work for us. Curious what other labbies use them for. I have been here for a century and did read them all thoroughly when I had to print them off originally some 20 years ago. I have updated since then, but they rarely alter and it seems like a waste of time if they are identical.

Check your legislation but I think it is very similar to NSW. Staff that handle, use or store any hazardous chemicals must have access to a SDS. You have to consider that there may be staff without convenient access to a computer e.g. your maintenance team. Also consider if there is a power or internet outage.
SDSs are only valid for five years from the date of issue. It may seem that they don't change but some actually do change, replacing them every five years ensures that these changes are captured. Please be aware, this doesn't mean they all get updated every five years at the same time. You need to be checking them more frequently as their validity will expire at different times. In reality, most people check them every year.

I have a system here were each faculty receives a hard copy of their chemical register (list of chemicals and copies of SDSs) relevant to their area. I also have a folder on our cloud storage (Google Drive for us) with electronic copies of all SDSs for the whole college grouped together in faculties.
Yep, reality is most teachers will only look at Riskassess but the legislation says they must have access to the SDS and, really, they should read them.
The example I use is that the SDS has instructions for dealing with a spill. You should be familiar with those instructions before you handle the chemical. No point running around looking for the SDS when you have a chemical running across the floor.

Once you have a system in place, it is not too tricky to keep on top of it, especially if you are only looking after Science. I coordinate our whole Chem Register as part of my WHS role.

I am in a similar situation as Merilyn1, have a system and my spreadsheet actually flags when one is coming due (the 5 year mark)...I go in every 2-3 weeks and check, update and reprint if needed. I also review all our Chemical Risk Assesments (we do a RA on every chemical before it gets ordered / or reordered) yearly for DG chemicals and then on a less frequent basis for hazardous chemicals. Once your system is set up it sort of ticks along in the background.

I never used them or every saw a teacher use them. But a NSW requirment so had to be done.