How long do you have to keep safety data sheets on file?
요약
Keep a safety data sheet while the chemical is in use, then OSHA requires the sheet or an identity record for at least 30 years. The 30-year duty applies to US employers whose employees were exposed (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). In the EU, REACH Article 36 sets at least 10 years after last use (REACH, 2006).
US employers must keep a safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical in the workplace and keep it readily accessible to employees in their work areas during each work shift (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024).
US employee exposure records, which include safety data sheets that indicate a health hazard, must be preserved for at least 30 years (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
When an employee asks for an exposure record and access cannot reasonably be given within 15 working days, the employer must explain the delay within those 15 working days and give the earliest date the record will be available (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
EU and GB REACH require manufacturers, importers, downstream users and distributors to keep the information they need for their REACH duties for at least 10 years after they last manufactured, imported, supplied or used the substance or mixture (REACH Article 36, 2006).
This answer covers employers under federal OSHA in the United States and duty holders under EU and GB REACH. Workplaces under an OSHA-approved State Plan follow that plan, which must be at least as effective as OSHA (OSHA, 2026). Substance-specific OSHA standards can set a different period, which then replaces the 1910.1020 period (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). The 30-year duty covers safety data sheets indicating that the material may pose a hazard to human health (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
How long must safety data sheets be kept while a chemical is in use?
Safety data sheets must be kept for as long as a hazardous chemical is in the workplace: OSHA requires employers to "have a safety data sheet in the workplace for each hazardous chemical which they use" (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024). Under paragraph (g)(8), the employer must keep copies of the required safety data sheets in the workplace and ensure they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work areas. Electronic access and other alternatives to paper copies are permitted as long as they create no barriers to immediate employee access (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024).
Three more details apply. Where employees travel between workplaces during a shift, the sheets may be kept at the primary workplace facility, provided employees can immediately obtain the information in an emergency. Safety data sheets may be kept in any form, including as operating procedures, as long as the required information is provided for each hazardous chemical. The written hazard communication program must also list the hazardous chemicals known to be present, using a product identifier that matches the safety data sheet (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024).
The working file holds the current version. A manufacturer, importer or employer preparing a safety data sheet must add significant new hazard information to it within three months of becoming aware of it (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024), so the sheet in the work area changes over the life of a product.
Do you have to keep the safety data sheet after a chemical is no longer used?
Yes, in the United States the safety data sheet, or a record that replaces it, must be kept for at least 30 years where employees were exposed to the chemical (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). Under 29 CFR 1910.1020, a material safety data sheet "indicating that the material may pose a hazard to human health" is an employee exposure record (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
The rule applies to employees who are exposed, which includes past and potential exposure. It excludes situations where the employer can show the substance is not used, handled, stored or present in the workplace in any manner different from typical non-occupational situations (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). This suggests the exclusion is narrow: it covers products handled as a consumer would handle them, not industrial stock on site, so an unopened container alone is no reason to discard the sheet.
An employer ceasing to do business must transfer all records under 1910.1020 to the successor employer; with no successor, it must notify affected current employees of their access rights at least three months before closing (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
The table below decides which safety data sheet records a site can archive or discard:
Record | Keep for | Rule |
|---|---|---|
Current safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical in use | While the chemical is in the workplace, readily accessible each shift (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024) | US OSHA 1910.1200(g)(1) and (g)(8) |
Safety data sheet of a chemical no longer used | At least 30 years, or discard once the identity record below exists (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011) | US OSHA 1910.1020(d)(1)(ii)(B) |
Identity record: chemical name if known, where used, when used | At least 30 years (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011) | US OSHA 1910.1020(d)(1)(ii)(B) |
Superseded version of a sheet, chemical still in use | Not named in the rule; the version in use during a period is the exposure record for that period, so archive it or cover it with an identity record (inference from OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011) | US OSHA 1910.1020(c)(5)(iii) |
Exposure monitoring results and analyses using them | At least 30 years; laboratory background data 1 year if results, sampling plan, methods and a summary are kept 30 years (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011) | US OSHA 1910.1020(d)(1)(ii)(A) and (d)(1)(iii) |
Information needed for REACH duties, including safety data sheets received | At least 10 years after last manufacture, import, supply or use (REACH Article 36, 2006; DGUV IFA, 2026) | EU REACH and GB REACH Article 36 |
Exposure monitoring records of identifiable employees, Great Britain | At least 40 years from the last entry; other monitoring records at least 5 years (COSHH Regulation 10(5), 2002) | GB COSHH 2002 |
The key row for a US site is the second one: a sheet for a discontinued chemical may go only once a record of the chemical name, the areas where it was used and the dates of use is filed for at least 30 years (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
What record can replace an old safety data sheet?
A record of the chemical's identity, where it was used and when it was used can replace an old safety data sheet in the United States, provided that record is kept for at least 30 years (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). The rule text reads: "Material safety data sheets and paragraph (c)(5)(iv) records concerning the identity of a substance or agent need not be retained for any specified period as long as some record of the identity (chemical name if known) of the substance or agent, where it was used, and when it was used is retained for at least thirty (30) years" (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).
In a 1985 interpretation, OSHA explained that the paragraph "does not specifically require" adding where and when information to a retained sheet, while the alternative record must contain the location of use and the time period of use (OSHA, 1985).
The rule does not mandate the form, manner or process of preservation as long as the information is preserved and retrievable (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). A practical record has one line per product: trade name and chemical name, supplier, the work areas, the first and last dates of use, and the sheet version or revision date in use. When the archive, the inventory and the supplier sheets disagree about what was used where, Lubinpla works the case from your own SDSs and site history and returns one cited document for your review.
Why do sources give 30 or 40 years for keeping safety data sheets?
Sources give 30 or 40 years for keeping safety data sheets because they describe different record types and jurisdictions: 30 years is the US exposure record period, and 40 years is a Great Britain period for exposure monitoring and health records, not for the sheets themselves (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011; COSHH, 2002).
The rule text says each exposure record must be kept "for at least thirty (30) years" and does not state when the period starts (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). SDS Manager states that the sheet must be kept "30 years from its last date of use" (SDS Manager, 2026). J. J. Keller writes "the life of the exposed employee's employment, plus thirty years" (J. J. Keller, 2026), a period that the rule sets for employee medical records, not exposure records (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). Counting from the last date of use is the cautious reading, because it covers every period of exposure.
The 40-year figure comes from the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 in Great Britain. Regulation 10(5) requires monitoring records representative of the personal exposures of identifiable employees for at least 40 years, and other monitoring records for at least 5 years, from the last entry; regulation 11(3) sets 40 years for health records (COSHH, 2002). Neither regulation names safety data sheets. The sheets fall under the REACH Article 36 period of at least 10 years after last use (REACH, 2006).
자주 묻는 질문
Must you keep superseded versions of a safety data sheet?
In the United States, 29 CFR 1910.1020 does not name superseded versions of a safety data sheet (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011). This suggests keeping them, because the version in use during a period describes what employees were exposed to then. SDS Manager advises that if the formula changed, "you need to keep both", while a new sheet for an unchanged formula replaces the old one (SDS Manager, 2026). Keeping the dated old version, or an identity record that names the dates each version was in use, avoids the question.
How long must safety data sheets be kept outside the US?
In the EU and in Great Britain, REACH Article 36 requires downstream users and other actors to keep the information they need for REACH duties for at least 10 years after they last used or supplied the substance or mixture (REACH, 2006). The German Social Accident Insurance institute IFA states that downstream users "must consequently also retain the relevant safety data sheets for at least ten years" (DGUV IFA, 2026). Other countries set their own periods; check the national rule.
Can safety data sheets be kept electronically?
Yes. OSHA permits electronic access to working safety data sheets if it creates no barriers to immediate employee access (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2024), and archived records may be kept in any form as long as the information is preserved and retrievable (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, 2011).