[ RadSafe ] MSDS stupidity

[StevenFrey at aol.com]

More MSDS lunacy: 

1) besides the MSDS for distilled water, there is even an MSDS for....iron 
shot. The rationale is that in a fire, the iron could go airborne, exposing 
firefighters to iron fumes. 
If the legal professions is going to scare the pants off material suppliers 
of all kinds with safety 'stretches' like that, why not include an MSDS with 
pizza? Someone could get burned.

2) the warning language in MSDS is overreaching, histrionic, and nearly 
identical no matter what the material. That's clearly the consequence of letting 
lawyers craft the language. Rather than adding to safety, the language IMHO 
counters it. The language as written promotes lawsuits by implying that 
practically everything is possibly deadly and therefore making companies vulnerable to 
expensive willful-neglect settlements. The language also is so dreadfully and 
similarly written and with such unrelentingly frightful portent even for 
innocuous materials that it eventually discourages consumers from regarding any MSDS 
in a serious manner.

There is an old philosophy that suggests that in the attempt to defend 
everything, one can defend nothing. This line can be applied to MSDSs as they 
currently exist.

Perhaps there should be a MSDS for MSDS, warning readers about the dangers 
about MSDSs themselves.

Steve
Steven R. Frey, MS, CHP
1420 Pinecrest Drive
South Williamsport, PA 17702-7024
Phone: (570) 322-5480