What does Section 2 of a coating SDS tell an Ottawa manager?

Section 2 of a Safety Data Sheet sets out the product's hazards.

For a floor coating job in an Ottawa commercial building, Section 2 is the section a manager should read before workers or tenants are anywhere near the work area. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, s.38(1.1), an employer shall make a copy of the safety data sheet readily available to workers who may be exposed to the product. If your own staff will remain on site during the coating work, ask the contractor for the SDS for every product being applied, including primers, base coats, topcoats and any solvent used for cleanup, and make those sheets available to your staff.

What Section 2 flags depends on the product: Canada's hazardous products rules include classes such as skin sensitiser and respiratory sensitiser, and whether a coating carries one is on its SDS. The hazards vary by product: some epoxy systems, some polyaspartics, some urethane cements and some MMA resins carry different warnings. Read Section 2 of the SDS for the actual product being used, not a generic description of the system type. Section 9 of the same SDS gives the flash point, which tells you whether the product is a flammable liquid and therefore subject to Ontario Fire Code 4.1.5.2, which says open flames, sparks or heat-producing equipment shall not be permitted in an area where flammable or combustible liquids are used unless controlled in a manner that will not create a fire or explosion hazard.

A few things worth checking once you have the SDS in hand:

• Does Section 2 list a respiratory sensitiser? If so, ask the contractor what ventilation and respiratory protection they are providing for their workers, and what your staff in adjacent areas need.
• Does Section 2 list a flammability hazard? If so, confirm that pilot lights, electrical panels and any sparking equipment in or near the work area are addressed before the job starts.
• Does Section 2 list a skin sensitiser? Ask the contractor how they will prevent contact and what to do if a worker or bystander is exposed.

The contractor should supply the SDS before the job starts, not on the day work begins. If they cannot produce it, that is worth resolving before you sign anything.

The right person to ask first is the contractor, because they choose the products and hold the SDS for each one. If the work is in a food preparation area, Ottawa Public Health is the next call, because OPH asks to be notified before significant renovations to a food premises and can tell you whether re-coating your kitchen floor counts as one in your situation.