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

[Michael Whapples]

My comment about the law is more that the manufacturers if they provide an 
electronic copy should make an accessible electronic copy, eg. suitable PDF, 
or html. I am uncertain that paper braille would be suitable in such a case, 
thinking of sometimes how long it can take me to find appropiate information 
from my course notes.

Yes I know the reality doesn't always reflect what should happen, but unless 
people push for a change the situation doesn't improve. What should be done 
probably be a question that might be unanswered for a long time, but 
accessible PDF/html wouldn't just improve the situation for blind people as 
sighted people could refer to this resource as well (and from what you 
describe finding these documents at the critical time is far from perfect 
for the sighted community as well).

From
Michael Whapples
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Bullis" <mabullis at hotmail.com>
To: "'NFB Science and Engineering Division List'" <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] [rehab] MSDS Sheets/Training?


> 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
>