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24-hour hazmat support for the UK's Emergency Services
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CHEMSAFE Safety Data Sheets FAQ
"What will the NCEC do with my SDS's?" and other Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Q. What will NCEC do with my Safety Data Sheets?
A. All SDS's sent to us are stored and indexed within our database systems so that they can be rapidly retrieved in an emergency.
Q. Who will my Safety Data Sheets be given out to?
A. The NCEC will only send out copies of your SDS's to a member of the emergency services (fire, police, ambulance, hospital A&E) dealing with an incident. All other enquiries for SDS's are redirected to the company that supplies the product.
Q. Do I need to send SDS's for non-hazardous products, as well as those classified as hazardous?
A. You should send us SDS's for all your products. The Chemsafe Scheme is intended to cover all products, not just those classified as hazardous. It is just as useful to be able to tell the emergency services that a product is of low hazard so that they can scale down their response and avoid using unnecessary resources and attracting adverse media attention.
Q. I am a distributor and have lots of SDS's from different manufacturers. Can I send these to NCEC?
A. Yes, but it would be useful to mark them, e.g. with a company stamp, so that they are clearly identifiable as coming from your company.
Q. Can I put the Chemsafe Longstop number on my SDS's?
A. No. The Chemsafe Longstop telephone number is an ex-directory number provided only to the blue-light emergency services.
Q. Will NCEC charge me for registering my Safety Data Sheets?
A. No. The Chemsafe Longstop scheme is funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Chemical Industries Association (CIA). There is no charge to companies for registering their SDS's with Chemsafe Longstop.
Submitting SDS's to the NCEC
Q. What format of Safety Data Sheets do you require?
A. We do not require any particular format of SDS, however we prefer SDS's to be in 16-section format conforming to e.g. the UK CHIP regulations, the EU Safety Data Sheet Directive (91/155/EC as amended) or ISO 11014.
Q. What electronic formats do you accept?
A. We can accept most common formats - PDF, XML, common word processor formats, and text formats. For further information, please see our Guide to Sending SDS's to the NCEC. If your SDS's are in a different format, please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Q. How do I send my SDS's to NCEC?
A. Please send your SDS's
- by email, to ncec@aeat.com , using a subject of 'FAO Chemsafe', or
- on CD-ROM to the NCEC's address
If you wish to use another method please contact us to discuss your requirements.