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Safety Data Sheet (SDS): How to Create and Manage It with a LIMS
Learn how to create and manage a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) using a LIMS, ensuring quality and safety in your laboratory.
Keeping a laboratory safe, productive, and compliant requires well-defined processes across the board. In this context, preparing the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is one of the fundamental pillars for ensuring operational integrity and protecting both personnel and the environment. After all, when it comes to handling chemical products, every detail matters — from proper storage to emergency response in the event of an accident.
However, building and managing the SDS cannot be treated as a manual task prone to errors or oversights. To avoid these pitfalls, adopting a solution such as a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) becomes indispensable.
Throughout this article, you’ll learn how to prepare a Safety Data Sheet correctly and efficiently, and discover how implementing a LIMS for laboratories optimizes this process.
What Is the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and Why Is It Essential to Laboratory Operations?
The Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is a technical document that consolidates all the necessary information on the hazards, properties, safe handling, and proper disposal of chemical substances. It is indispensable not only for protecting staff but also for ensuring the laboratory’s compliance with regulatory and environmental standards.
Under Brazilian standards such as ABNT NBR 14725 and NR-26 (Brazil’s occupational safety regulation on hazardous chemicals), the SDS must contain information ranging from substance identification to specific hazard control measures, first aid, firefighting procedures, and environmental impact.
Beyond being good practice, keeping this document accessible and up to date is also a legal obligation. That’s because the SDS becomes a critical resource for fostering a culture of safety within laboratories, preventing accidents, and ensuring everyone knows how to respond in an emergency.
See also: FISPQ Has Been Replaced by the SDS: What You Need to Know About the New Regulation
How to Prepare a Safety Data Sheet Correctly?
Preparing the SDS follows an international standard based on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). It is structured into 16 mandatory sections covering every aspect of the chemical substance, from its composition to control measures and toxicological information.
To ensure the SDS is accurate and complete, precise data must be collected on:
- The composition of the substance;
- Its physicochemical properties;
- Associated hazards (explosiveness, flammability, toxicity);
- First aid procedures and emergency control measures;
- Guidelines for storage, safe handling, and environmentally sound disposal.
However, when this management is done manually, using spreadsheets or scattered documents, the risk of inconsistencies, outdated versions, and data loss is enormous — and this is where an indispensable resource for modern laboratories comes in: the LIMS system.
How Does a LIMS Simplify the Creation and Management of Safety Data Sheets?
Manual SDS management not only consumes time but also leaves substantial room for error, which can lead to non-conformities during audits and, above all, risks to laboratory safety.
By adopting a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), also known as LIMS software, the laboratory gains a robust technology framework to control, update, and access all Safety Data Sheets in a centralized, automated way.
With a LIMS, it is possible to:
- Centralize all information on chemical substances in a secure, organized database;
- Automate the generation, updating, and control of Safety Data Sheets, always ensuring the latest version is available;
- Ensure full traceability, since the system logs who created, modified, or accessed each SDS, along with the date and time;
- Streamline audits and inspections by quickly making available all documents required by regulatory bodies;
- Drastically reduce time spent on manual tasks and minimize operational errors.
Using a LIMS for SDS management also enables efficient integration with other laboratory processes, such as inventory control, risk analysis, report generation, and compliance with standards such as ISO/IEC 17025 and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP).
Actiz LIMS: The Complete Solution for Safety Data Sheet Management
The Actiz LIMS is a system built for laboratories that demand efficiency, safety, and compliance. With features specifically designed for document management — including the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) — the platform offers:
- Automatic SDS generation based on data registered in the system;
- Simplified updates whenever there are changes to substances or processes;
- Access control and change history to ensure full traceability;
- Integration with other laboratory modules, such as sample tracking, inventory management, and report/certificate issuance.
If your company still relies on manual methods for this type of management, migrating to a LIMS like Actiz means achieving full digitalization and process optimization.
Want to Learn More? Watch Our Video on Safety Data Sheets on YouTube!
If you want to learn even more about how to prepare a Safety Data Sheet and why efficient management matters, we’ve put together a full video on our YouTube channel.
In it, Vitor Moreira, Technical Support Coordinator at Actiz, walks through everything you need to know to apply this knowledge in your laboratory correctly and safely.
Watch now and see how it works in practice:
Transform Your SDS Management with a LIMS and Ensure Safety and Compliance in Your Laboratory
Keeping the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) up to date, accessible, and well structured doesn’t have to be a challenge. Using a LIMS, like Actiz, is the best way to ensure this process is safe, efficient, and fully compliant with regulatory standards.
If you want to eliminate manual processes, reduce risk, and make your laboratory management far more agile, it’s time to see firsthand how Actiz LIMS can transform your daily operations.
