Low odor does not mean low hazard - mastic removers in asbestos abatement
So, I recently completed a cursory review of several different low-odor mastic or adhesive removers that were proposed for use in an asbestos abatement project. Like many safety professionals, I always specify "low odor" or "no odor" chemicals to be used, but I had not previously encountered the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for most of the mastic removers that were proposed by the contractor. I'd heard anecdotal evidence that the soy-based mastic removers were less effective for asbestos abatement, but understood they were intended to be an environmentally-friendly option. I was not surprised to find that most of the SDS were wholly unhelpful in assessing the hazards associated with the chemicals. Many of them were one page, in tiny font, and had not been converted to the new Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals - Safety Data Sheet required format yet. Based on the lack of information, I threw together a table for each propos...