Understanding safety data sheets as a strategy to protect humans and the environment at the laboratory

¹ Master Program of Environmental Science, School of Postgraduate Studies, Diponegoro University, Semarang - Indonesia
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University, Semarang - Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: elza.rizkiawalia@gmail.com

Abstract

Safety Data Sheet (SDS) gave important information for safe chemicals handling and widely used in communicating chemical hazards. Laboratory as one of the places associated with the consumption of a number of chemicals, then the worker in laboratory have to know the information chemicals used. The purpose of this research is to know the perception and understanding of workers in a laboratory toward SDS. The quantitative research was used and the collect data by questionnaire using Likert scale, then analyzed descriptively. The total sample of data was twenty-seven of laboratory worker people. The finding from this study showed that a great majority of people agree SDS has benefits for workers in the laboratory, agree the SDS should be available in the workplace, feel the need to know the contents of the SDS, but not so many people agree ‘I access SDS while working using chemicals’ and great majority of people feel ‘I obtained chemical information other than SDS’.