Job Specification - Safety Data Specialist

🎯 Role Definition

The Safety Data Specialist serves as the central authority and guardian of an organization's product safety and compliance data. This role is fundamentally responsible for ensuring that all information concerning chemical hazards, safe handling, and regulatory status is meticulously accurate, current, and correctly communicated through Safety Data Sheets (SDS), product labels, and internal enterprise systems. Professionals in this role act as subject matter experts on complex global hazard communication regulations (like GHS, REACH, and OSHA), interpreting dense legal and scientific text and applying it directly to the company's product portfolio. The position is instrumental in mitigating corporate risk, enabling global market access for products, and upholding the company's public commitment to safety and environmental stewardship.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

EHS Coordinator or Technician
Quality Control Chemist or Lab Technician
Regulatory Affairs Assistant

Advancement To:

Senior Safety Data Specialist or Team Lead
Product Stewardship Manager
EHS Systems Manager or Regulatory Affairs Manager

Lateral Moves:

Data Analyst (Supply Chain or R&D)
Environmental Compliance Specialist
Quality Assurance Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Author, review, and meticulously maintain a large portfolio of Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and product labels for diverse global jurisdictions, ensuring full compliance with standards like GHS, REACH, and CLP.
Conduct comprehensive hazard classifications for raw materials, intermediates, and finished products by critically evaluating toxicological, ecotoxicological, and physical-chemical data.
Manage and ensure the integrity of all product safety and regulatory data within dedicated EHS management systems (e.g., SAP EHS, Sphera, VERISK 3E, WERCS).
Proactively monitor, interpret, and analyze the business impact of new and emerging international chemical control regulations on the company's products and operational processes.
Serve as a key technical point of contact for internal and external stakeholders, responding to complex customer and regulatory inquiries regarding product safety, compliance, and chemical composition.
Collaborate closely with Research & Development (R&D) teams to provide proactive regulatory guidance during new product development and introduction cycles, ensuring "compliance-by-design".
Perform substance volume tracking and generate necessary regulatory reports and notifications for agencies such as ECHA (under REACH) and the EPA (under TSCA).
Oversee the systematic collection, critical review, and archival of vendor-supplied SDSs and raw material documentation, ensuring all incoming materials are properly classified and documented in the system.
Determine and manage Dangerous Goods (DG) classifications for all modes of transport (IATA, IMDG, ADR, DOT) to ensure the safe and compliant shipment of all products.
Support the generation of specialized regulatory documents beyond SDSs, such as Poison Center Notifications (PCN), product registrations, and various certificates of compliance.
Execute rigorous data quality control checks and data cleansing initiatives within the EHS database to maintain a high degree of accuracy and reliability for all product information.
Act as a key resource during internal and external audits by preparing documentation, explaining data management processes, and demonstrating system compliance.
Develop and refine workflows and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for SDS authoring, data management, and regulatory reporting to drive efficiency and consistency.
Provide targeted training and technical support to internal users (e.g., Sales, Customer Service, Logistics) on understanding SDS content, labels, and utilizing EHS systems effectively.
Partner with IT and Data Analytics teams to troubleshoot system issues, articulate business requirements for system enhancements, and participate in user acceptance testing.
Conduct detailed compositional reviews of product formulas against global chemical inventories (e.g., TSCA, DSL, EINECS, AICS) to confirm marketability and identify potential registration needs.
Manage and fulfill complex data requests from business partners for sustainability reporting, life cycle assessments, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Investigate and resolve data discrepancies reported by internal teams or customers, performing thorough root cause analysis to implement corrective and preventive actions.
Create, test, and maintain complex rule sets within the SDS authoring system to automate phrase selection and classification logic based on evolving regulatory requirements.
Support corporate incident response and investigation teams by providing critical chemical hazard information and exposure assessment data on demand.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data analysis requests from EHS and Product Stewardship leadership to identify risk trends, performance metrics, and opportunities for strategic improvement.
Contribute subject matter expertise to the continuous improvement of the organization's overall data governance strategy, particularly for regulated product data.
Liaise directly with procurement and supply chain teams to communicate raw material data requirements and collaborate on resolving supplier data quality issues.
Participate in industry association working groups or attend webinars to stay at the forefront of best practices and emerging regulatory trends.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in global hazard communication regulations, including GHS (Globally Harmonized System), OSHA HazCom, REACH, and CLP.
Hands-on proficiency with specialized SDS authoring and EHS management software such as SAP EHS, Sphera, UL WERCS, or similar enterprise platforms.
Strong scientific literacy and the ability to interpret complex technical data, including toxicological and ecotoxicological study summaries, for hazard classification purposes.
Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel for data manipulation, cross-referencing, analysis, and reporting (e.g., VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, pivot tables, complex formulas).
Solid understanding of database management principles; a working knowledge of SQL for direct data querying is highly advantageous.
Verifiable knowledge of transportation regulations for dangerous goods across different modes (DOT, IATA, IMDG).
Working knowledge of major global chemical inventory regulations and notification schemes (e.g., TSCA, DSL, REACH).
Strong familiarity with chemical nomenclature and substance identification conventions (CAS numbers, EC numbers, IUPAC names).

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to accuracy, which is non-negotiable when dealing with safety and compliance data.
Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with a proven ability to navigate complex regulatory texts and ambiguous data to make sound judgments.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill and explain complex technical and regulatory concepts to non-expert audiences.
Superior organizational and time-management abilities to effectively juggle multiple projects, shifting priorities, and firm deadlines.
A highly collaborative and service-oriented mindset, with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams (R&D, Legal, Supply Chain, Sales).
A high level of personal integrity and professional ethics, recognizing the critical impact of the role on public safety and corporate reputation.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Chemistry, Toxicology, Environmental Science
Biology, Industrial Hygiene, or a related hard science discipline.

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2-5 years of direct experience in a regulatory affairs, product stewardship, or EHS role with a primary focus on hazard communication and data management.

Preferred:

Prior experience within the chemical, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, or a similar regulated manufacturing industry is highly desirable. Experience managing data for a large, global product portfolio is a significant asset.