Ministry of Agriculture
Safety Precautions
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. MSDSs provide detailed hazard and precautionary information about pesticide products and their ingredients. The type of information on MSDS includes: chemical properties, health effects of acute or chronic exposure, physical hazards, first aid measures, emergency procedures, ways to protect workers at risk of over exposure, and information on storage, handling, use, and disposal. The information on MSDSs supplements the information on pesticide labels.
Every farm should have current MSDSs for all pesticide used or stored on the farm. Ask your supplier for copies of the MSDS when you purchase pesticides. Some pesticide companies also have electronic copies of MSDS for their products. Check registrants web sites to view their MSDSs. Keep the MSDSs in a convenient location such as the pesticide storage room, with your contingency plan, in your farm office, or in all these locations.
The Chapter 5 of the Workers Compensation WHMIS Core Material: A resource manual for the application and implementation of WHMIS provides more details on Material Safety Data Sheets.
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Example showing the types of information found on material safety data sheets (product identification, composition, hazard identification, first aid measures, fire fighting measures, accidental release, handling and storage, exposure controls, personal protection and exposure limits, physical and chemical properties, stability and reactivity, toxicological information, ecological information, disposal considerations, transport information, and other information).
