[Nfb-science] [rehab] MSDS Sheets/Training?

Sun Apr 1 07:59:39 CDT 2007

Placing the law to one side for a minute, I'd just like to think through the
practicality of the matter.  Many companies have hundreds of msds's and
they're constantly changing as products come and go.  The Safety Officer or
some other person takes the MSDS's and copies them for placement in the msds
book.  They have to be distributed to all plants where the products are
being used and lest we forget, the safety officer or some other person is
supposed to train people on new products and their safety issues.

Needless to say, often companies don't send along an msds when they deliver
products.  Often the products are purchased from a store like a grocery
store or Home Depot for example and MSDS's aren't available.  Theoretically,
there is a safety person designated to find the msds and place it in the
propper places in the company.  Again, needless to say, this often doesn't
happen.  

Now that we've described a very imperfect process that doesn't work well for
anyone in business, let's think about access.

There is a great disparity in the extent to which companies produce their
msds's accessibly.  Many do have them in PDF but what they've done is really
just paste an image into a pdf, so they aren't accessible through acrobat.
Potentially, they could be scanned and turned either into a text file or a
Braille file.

Having said all this, I wonder if we really want to put our employers to the
expense of turning every msds into a paper braille file.  In our plants the
books would be dozens of volumes.  You probably couldn't find the msds in
time to do any good should your fellow employee splash some of the chemical
in his/her eyes.  So, just from a practical standpoint I don't see what good
msds's in paper Braille would be.  On the other hand, as you point out,
perhaps an electronic braille file would be useful, assuming that the person
looking for the product's msds knows how to use electronic Braille.  Of
course, there is one more issue of relevance.

In a practical situation, virtually nobody actually goes and looks for the
msds's.  They're usually not handy or immediately available.  What is
available is the can or container that the product comes in.  Usually on
this container there is information about what to do in case of spills,
ingestion, contact with skin, Etc.  Somebody quickly looks at the can or
bottle or box and finds the relevant information in order to take care of
the emergency.  

So, I guess what I'm saying is that perhaps the most practical thing you'd
like to have is the label.  Oh, I forgot to mention that often when products
are received by companies they are distributed in secondary containers.  By
law, these containers are supposed to be labeled with all the original
information.  You can only guess how often this actually happens.  So, often
in an emergency, what you have is everybody running around looking for the
original container or an MSDS.  

I guess I'm not sure where I'm going with this.  I just want to make it
clear that the current system doesn't work well for sighted employees
either.  What we should demand legally is a question I also don't have a
complete answer for.  But, next time you go to the store and buy some window
cleaner or a bottle of ink, or a can of wd40, just remember that MSDS.
Mike Bullis
Baltimore Maryland

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Peter Donahue
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 11:00 PM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] [rehab] MSDS Sheets/Training?

Hello again Leisa and listers,

    This appeared on another list so wanted to post it here. Nancy is saying
the exact same thing I'm saying all be it in slightly different words.
Braille should be one of the options available to the blind employees.

    I would only add that your concern with access to documents such as MSDS
sheets are exactly the reason why we have our science initiative. Whether
one works for a guide dog program or in another environment where access to
information is critical and time-sensitive it should be available to blind
workers in their format of choice. I'm obviously not alone in this
sentiment.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Coffman" <nancylc at sprynet.com>
To: "Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List" <rehab at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: [rehab] MSDS Sheets/Training?

If the chemical companies don't respond to the requests made for the
information to be accessible, I would either scan the document and make it
available to the blind users in their format of choice or digitally record
the message somewhere such as a special voicemail box for them so the
information is available fast.  I am sure others will have a variety of
other ideas.

Nancy Coffman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leisa Sekhon" <lsekhon at guidedogs.com>
To: <rehab at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 2:49 PM
Subject: [rehab] MSDS Sheets/Training?

Hello,

I'd like to ask any Rehab Counselors, or anyone else that may know
something, about whether you know if any of your present or past clients
have had to go through MSDS Training or had to access MSDS chemical
sheets on their job sites?  These information sheets are put out by
chemical manufacturers to describe the chemical, what it would interact
badly with, and what to do if you ingest it, etc.  The sheets are
usually kept in each department of a job site that comes in contact with
certain chemicals, disinfectants, etc., on a regular basis.  There is
also usually a yearly training to refresh employee knowledge of such
products and procedures.

I work for Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., in the kennels, and we have
such information presented to our staff regularly.  I am researching
what other blind/visually impaired employees have done to make this
information accessible to them.  What format is used, have they had any
dealing with the chemical companies to make this info accessible, etc.
So, these may be somewhat questions for managers of those employees, but
I thought you may be a good resource.  Please feel free to forward this
email to anyone that may have some insight on this issue.

Thanks,

Leisa

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