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A safety auditor walks into a facility, and the plant manager proudly points to a thick, dusty binder on the shelf. "We are fully compliant," they say. "We have an SDS for every chemical in the building."
That binder might be full of data, but possessing data is not the same as managing risk.
Many maintenance leaders fall into the trap of thinking that holding the documentation equals having a safety culture. It doesn't. While the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) provides the ingredients of danger, the COSHH Assessment provides the recipe for safety. If you want to move from simply storing paper to actively protecting your team—and avoiding the massive reactive maintenance costs associated with accidents—you need to understand how these two documents differ and how they work together.
Think of an SDS (formerly known as MSDS) as a passport for a chemical product. It travels with the chemical from the manufacturer to your facility.
An SDS is a technical document provided by the supplier. Its job is to tell you exactly what the chemical is and what it is capable of doing in a generic sense. It does not know your factory, your ventilation system, or your technicians.
Key Contents of an SDS:
COSHH stands for Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. While SDS is a document about a product, a COSHH assessment is a document about a task.
This is a legal framework (originating in the UK but used as a gold standard for risk assessment globally) that you, the employer, must create. It bridges the gap between the chemical's theoretical danger and your real-world reality.
The 5-Step COSHH Logic:
It is easy to confuse these two documents because they both deal with chemical safety, but confusing them can leave a massive gap in your risk management strategy. To understand the difference, you have to look at intent and application.
Here is the breakdown of how they differ in the real world:
You cannot have a valid COSHH assessment without the data from the SDS. Here is what the workflow looks like in a high-functioning maintenance department:
The Consequence of the Gap If you rely only on the SDS, your technician might wear a basic dust mask for a vapor hazard because the SDS was too vague. This leads to health issues, which leads to sick leave, which ultimately drives up downtime costs and disrupts your maintenance strategy.
Managing hundreds of chemicals and their associated risk assessments on paper is a recipe for failure. In the era of Industry 4.0, your safety documentation should be as dynamic as your operations.
SDSs update whenever regulations (like REACH) change. If you are holding an SDS from 2010, you are non-compliant.
The Solution: Use Inventory Management tools (like those in Cryotos) to track the lifecycle of your chemicals. You can set automated reminders to check for updated SDS versions from suppliers.
Don't lock safety sheets in a manager's office. If a technician is repairing a hydraulic line at 2:00 AM, they need safety info now, not tomorrow morning.
The Solution: Leverage Mobile Accessibility. With Cryotos CMMS, you can attach the specific SDS PDF and the COSHH instructions directly to the Work Order. The technician scans a QR code on the asset or chemical container and sees the safety data instantly on their phone.
Safety shouldn't be an afterthought; it should be a gatekeeper.
The Solution: Use Workflow Automation. You can configure your CMMS so that a technician cannot mark a Work Order as "In Progress" until they have digitally signed the specific safety checklist or Permit to Work associated with those chemicals.
Poor chemical safety leads to accidents, spills, and corrosion damage. These incidents force you into "firefighting" mode.
The Impact: By integrating safety data into your preventive maintenance schedules (e.g., checking ventilation systems for chemical storage), you avoid the massive reactive maintenance costs associated with emergency shutdowns and regulatory fines.
Compliance requires both the "ingredients" and the "recipe." The Safety Data Sheet provides the essential facts, but the COSHH assessment translates those facts into safe actions on the shop floor.
Safety isn't about paperwork; it's about people. The relationship between SDS and COSHH is the foundation of a safe chemical culture. When you get this right, you don't just improve safety scores; you improve asset lifecycle management by ensuring chemicals are used and stored correctly, preserving both your equipment and your team.
