MBI Executive Brief No. 01: Reading the SDS

In brief: the key findings

• The SDS is present in almost every incident, but rarely read correctly. The failure is misinterpretation, misalignment and misplaced trust, not absence of information only.
• The SDS is a supplier’s hazard communication: one substance, one point in time, a controlled environment. It was not built for mixed cargo, container confinement or long voyages.
• Legal sufficiency does not equal operational adequacy. A compliant SDS does not guarantee a compliant shipment, or safety under actual vessel, voyage and cargo conditions.
• Accountability for SDS quality lies upstream, with shippers and consignors. The consequences fall downstream, on crew, terminal workforce and emergency responders.
• Correct SDS reading is a governance function. Training cannot cure upstream document failure, and more regulation alone has not changed reading behaviour. The response must be industry-wide, with CINS as a non-regulatory information layer.

Inside the Executive Brief

Four pages, written for the container shipping, terminal, insurance, surveyor and casualty community:

• the five key findings;
• the sixteen topics of the SDS at a glance, linked to the official SDS Sections, with the core reading areas marked;
• a passage from the full report on the selective reading of SDS Sections;
• what the full report adds: the method, depth and working tools.

The full report: method, depth and working tools

The full report (74 pages, seven chapters, three annexes) adds the three-step PRISM-MI reading sequence, reading notes on all sixteen SDS Sections, the Quick-Read Checklist with its accept, query or reject decision, and the working tools behind the findings. To request the full report, please contact us.

Author: Capt. Dirk F.J. Vande Velde, Founder of UNWME.