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OSHA requires the safety data sheet in English and lets employers keep copies in other languages (29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2)). Nothing in the standard checks those copies. HazComFast downloaded the English and Spanish sheets that 5 manufacturers publish for the U.S. market, 99 products in all, and compared them line by line. In 91 pairs both languages carry the same date, and in 97 they list the same hazards. The gaps are in the words: 25 of the 66 sheets with hazard statements word at least one of them differently from the official Spanish text, and 50 Spanish sheets keep lines in English, 18 of them about health or safety.
Sheets downloaded October 13 and 14, 2026 · by HazComFast · method and limits below
Apart from the brand count, which comes from a search of the manufacturers' sites, every figure on this page is a count from 181 PDF files downloaded from those sites on October 13 and 14, 2026. The sample is the set of products whose manufacturer publishes both languages, so the counts describe those sheets, not every Spanish sheet in circulation.
Check your own library before the next delivery: put each Spanish sheet next to its English sheet and compare the two dates. Then let the free SDS self-audit score the rest of your SDS program.
The documents are required in English. The training is required in a language the worker understands. A Spanish safety data sheet sits between the two: optional on paper, and often the page a crew actually reads.
"The chemical manufacturer or importer shall ensure that the safety data sheet is in English (although the employer may maintain copies in other languages as well)" 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2)
"The SDS must be provided and maintained in English. However, the SDS may be translated into other languages that workers speak as well to aid in comprehension and training." OSHA Instruction CPL 02-02-079 (2026)
"Employers having employees who speak other languages may add the information in their language to the material presented, as long as the information is presented in English as well." 29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(10)
"if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided in a language the employee can understand" OSHA Training Standards Policy Statement, April 28, 2010
The same 2026 directive asks the written program to address "how to train employees in a language and at a literacy level they understand." Nothing in the standard says who checks a translation, or how fast it must follow the English sheet. The full rule-by-rule answer is in our article Does OSHA require safety data sheets in Spanish?.
7 of 19
brands of construction, maintenance and cleaning products that publish a Spanish safety data sheet for the U.S. market on their website, in a search on October 13, 2026
For the other 12, the search found no Spanish sheet written for the U.S. market. One of them publishes Spanish sheets for Mexico, written for another country's rules. One English sheet we read offers the Spanish version another way: "This Safety Data Sheet is available in American Spanish upon request."
A search can miss a sheet that sits behind a portal, so the count is a floor. For the other brands on the list, a crew that reads Spanish gets the English sheet, or whatever translation the employer makes.
A translation is only as current as its revision date. We read the revision date of each language, or the issue date when the sheet has no revision. 19 of the pairs are single documents with both languages, which share a date by construction. The other 80 are two separate files.
| Category | pairs |
|---|---|
| Same date in both languages | 91 |
| Spanish published later | 4 |
| Spanish older than English | 2 |
| Placeholder date (1/1/0001) | 2 |
Four Spanish sheets of one brand carry an issue date 87 to 210 days after their English sheet, both as a first version. The translation came out after the English sheet, so for those months a crew that reads Spanish had the English sheet only.
One English sheet was revised, with the reason "Product Composition Changed". Its Spanish sheet still carries the previous revision, 1,115 days older. The two list different hazards: the Spanish keeps "Nocivo en caso de inhalación" (H332), which the current English sheet dropped. A crew reading the Spanish copy reads the sheet of the earlier formula.
A second Spanish sheet, from another brand, is 722 days older than its English sheet. The current English sheet says "Danger" and lists H228 ("Flammable solid"), H319 ("Causes serious eye irritation") and H335 ("May cause respiratory irritation"). The Spanish copy says "Advertencia", the Spanish for Warning. It leaves those statements out, lists H226 ("Flammable liquid and vapor"), which the English sheet does not, and names an ingredient the current English sheet no longer lists. A worker reading that copy reads a milder sheet than the one in force.
Two sheets of the same brand print "1/1/0001" as their revision date, one English and one Spanish. No sheet was revised in the year 1, so the field holds a placeholder. Those two pairs are left out of the date comparison, and the question for the supplier is simple: when was this sheet last revised?
Of the 99 products, 66 carry hazard statements. For each pair we listed the statements of section 2 in both languages, by their code when the sheet prints it and by their text when it does not. They match in 97 pairs. The two pairs that differ are the out-of-date translations above. The signal word follows the same pattern, with one twist in the Spanish word for Warning.
63 of 64
pairs where the Spanish signal word matches the English one
11
Spanish sheets that write "Atención" for Warning
16
Spanish sheets that write "Advertencia" for Warning
"Danger" is "Peligro" on every Spanish sheet that matches its English revision. "Warning" has two Spanish faces, and a crew trained on one should be shown the other.
The exposure limits of section 8 held up too: the 78 pairs that print an OSHA or ACGIH limit carry the same values in both languages, including one limit printed in mppcf.
No U.S. text fixes how a hazard statement reads in Spanish. The EU's CLP Regulation does: its Annex III gives every statement in every EU language, and it is an official Spanish text that anyone can download and reuse. In 25 of the 66 pairs with hazard statements, at least one statement is worded differently. Most of the differences are synonyms. One changes the meaning.
| Code | English statement | Official Spanish (CLP Annex III) | What the sheet says | Pairs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H350 | May cause cancer | Puede provocar cáncer. | Puede ocasionar cáncer | 12 |
| H351 | Suspected of causing cancer | Se sospecha que provoca cáncer. | Se sospecha que ocasiona cáncer | 6 |
| H229 | Pressurized container: May burst if heated | Recipiente a presión: Puede reventar si se calienta. | Contiene gas a presión: Puede reventar si se calienta | 5 |
| H314 | Causes severe skin burns and eye damage | Provoca quemaduras graves en la piel y lesiones oculares graves. | Provoca graves quemaduras en la piel y lesiones oculares | 3 |
| H317 | May cause an allergic skin reaction | Puede provocar una reacción alérgica en la piel. | Puede provocar una reacción cutánea alérgica | 3 |
| H332 | Harmful if inhaled | Nocivo en caso de inhalación. | Nocivo si se inhala | 2 |
| H331 | Toxic if inhaled | Tóxico en caso de inhalación. | Tóxico si se inhala | 1 |
| H340 | May cause genetic defects | Puede provocar defectos genéticos. | Puede ocasionar defectos genéticos | 1 |
| H361 | Suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child | Se sospecha que puede perjudicar la fertilidad o dañar el feto. | Susceptible de perjudicar la fertilidad o dañar al feto | 1 |
| H372 | Causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure | Provoca daños en los órganos tras exposiciones prolongadas o repetidas. | Provoca daños en los órganosCut short: the repeated exposure is gone | 1 |
"Puede ocasionar" and "Puede provocar" say the same thing. "Nocivo si se inhala" says what "Nocivo en caso de inhalación" says. These are not errors under OSHA's standard, which names no Spanish text. But the label, the sheet and the training should use the same words, and a crew that learned "Puede provocar cáncer" in a class will meet "Puede ocasionar cáncer" on the shelf. The H372 statement is different: cut after "órganos", it no longer says the damage comes from prolonged or repeated exposure.
Of the 99 Spanish sheets, 50 keep at least one line in English. Most are field labels from a template: "Emergency Phone", "24 Hour Hotline", "Revision date". In 18, the English line is a sentence a worker needs.
Toxicology, section 11
"The acute effects of this product have not been tested."
Left in English on 12 sheets of one brand
First aid, section 2
"If eye irritation persists: Get medical advice or attention."
Left in English on one sheet, between two Spanish first-aid steps
Fire-fighting and reactivity
"Do not use ABC fire extinguishers. Damp or wet material may generate nitrogen trichloride, an explosion hazard."
Left in English on one sheet
Exposure limits, section 8
"Detailed information regarding this substance may be found in 29 CFR 1910.1053."
Left in English on four sheets of a second brand, with the rest of the silica note
The fire-fighting line is the one that worries us most. The warning is about an explosion, and on the Spanish sheet it is the sentence left in English.
Translation copies what it is given. One English sheet in the sample lists its classification as acute toxicity by inhalation Category 4, skin corrosion/irritation Category 2, eye irritation Category 2A and reproductive toxicity Category 2. Its label section then prints the corrosion pictogram, the signal word "Danger" and "Causes severe skin burns and eye damage", the statement of a Category 1 corrosive.
Under Appendix C to 29 CFR 1910.1200, that classification gives the exclamation mark, "Warning", "Causes skin irritation" and "Causes serious eye irritation", with the health hazard pictogram for reproductive toxicity. Either the classification or the label is wrong. The Spanish sheet repeats both. When a sheet is wrong at the source, a faithful translation carries the error.
We checked every English sheet for this kind of mismatch between the classes listed and the statements printed. This was the only one we found among the 99.
The English sheets were last revised between 2014 and 2026. 36 were revised after the 2024 revision of the standard took effect on July 19, 2024. Across all 99 English sheets, four cite the 2024 standard and 25 still cite the 2012 one. That is not a violation by itself: during the transition, 1910.1200(j)(4) lets manufacturers "comply with either this section or § 1910.1200 revised as of July 1, 2023, or both", until May 19, 2026 for substances and November 19, 2027 for mixtures.
| Category | English sheets |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 5 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 10 |
| 2023 | 22 |
| 2024 | 15 |
| 2025 | 16 |
| 2026 | 17 |
A safety data sheet has no expiry date. Under 1910.1200(g)(5), new significant information about the hazards goes on the sheet within three months. An old date is a question for the supplier, not a violation by itself.
The English sheet is what the standard requires. The Spanish copy is what many crews read, so the work is making sure it says what the current English sheet says, and that training covers what it misses.
Open the English and the Spanish sheet of the same product and compare the revision date and the version. When the Spanish copy is older, the English sheet is the current one: ask the supplier for the updated translation, and train from the English sheet's content until it arrives.
In HazComFast
Drop in the supplier's PDF, scanned or not, in English or Spanish. HazComFast reads every page, fills in the hazards, the H and P statements, first aid and PPE, and shows where each value came from. Anything the AI isn't sure about waits for a person to confirm it.
Self-audit your SDS libraryA Spanish sheet that keeps a sentence in English still counts on the worker reading it. Paragraph (h)(3)(iv) requires training on the safety data sheet itself, so walk through those lines out loud, first aid and fire-fighting first.
In HazComFast
A worker can confirm an SDS only after reaching the end of Section 4, first aid. The proof keeps the version, the time and the device. When the supplier sends a new version, everyone who read the old one gets it back to read.
HazCom training record generatorOSHA's 2026 inspection directive asks the written program to say how employees are trained in a language and at a literacy level they understand. A Spanish version of the program should follow the English one revision for revision.
In HazComFast
Write the program in English and Spanish. Each section shows whether its translation is current, and the PDF prints both languages from the same revision. Workers read the current program on their phone, in Spanish when you've written that version, and each opening is recorded.
Written HazCom program generatorParagraph (f)(10) lets you add Spanish to a workplace label as long as the English is there too. Copy the signal word and the hazard statements from the current sheet, not from an old Spanish copy.
In HazComFast
A Spanish SDS that says PELIGRO is recorded as DANGER, and the original file stays attached as you received it.
Secondary container label maker| Brand | Pairs | With hazards | Same date | Spanish later | Spanish older | Other words | English lines | Safety sentence in English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 20 | 12 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| B | 20 | 7 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| C | 20 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 20 | 12 |
| D | 19 | 18 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| E | 20 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 20 | 4 |
HazComFast. (2026). Spanish vs. English safety data sheets: 99 pairs compared. https://hazcomfast.com/osha-data-research/spanish-sds-study. Sheets downloaded October 13 and 14, 2026.
No. 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2) requires the safety data sheet in English and lets the employer keep copies in other languages. What OSHA does require is training a worker understands: its 2010 training policy says that if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided in a language the employee can understand.
Check the revision date and the version on both. The English sheet is the one the standard requires. In this study, the two Spanish sheets that listed other hazards were three and two years older than their English sheet. Ask the supplier for a current Spanish copy, and train from the English sheet's content in the meantime.
Not in U.S. law. The UN publishes the GHS in Spanish, and the EU's CLP Regulation gives every hazard statement in Spanish in its Annex III. This study compares the Spanish sheets with the CLP text because it is official, current and free to reuse. Different words are not a violation of OSHA's standard.
"Danger" is "Peligro" on every Spanish sheet that matches its English revision. "Warning" appears two ways: 11 Spanish sheets write "Atención" and 16 write "Advertencia". Train crews to recognize both, and check the date: in this study, one out-of-date Spanish copy says "Advertencia" where the current English sheet says "Danger".
The standard sets no expiry date. Under 1910.1200(g)(5), a manufacturer that becomes newly aware of significant information about the hazards, or ways to protect against them, has to add it to the sheet within three months. In this study, 14 of the 98 English sheets with a real date were last revised before 2020, the oldest in 2014.
When Spanish is the language your crew understands, yes in practice. Paragraph (h)(1) requires effective information and training, OSHA's 2010 policy statement applies that to language and vocabulary, and the 2026 HazCom inspection directive asks the written program to say how employees are trained in a language and at a literacy level they understand.
The study looks at what a crew reads, not at who wrote it. Several of the gaps come from templates that repeat across a brand's sheets, and only 7 of the 19 brands checked publish a Spanish sheet for the U.S. online. Naming them would single out the ones that do the extra work.
Yes. The counts are free to download and reuse with a link to this page, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). The safety data sheets themselves stay with their manufacturers: OSHA's letter of June 24, 1996 says: "A chemical manufacturer has the discretion to copyright an MSDS." This page quotes short passages and does not redistribute the sheets.
Written and maintained by HazComFast. Sheets downloaded October 13 and 14, 2026. Regulatory text quoted from the eCFR, OSHA's directives and memoranda, and EUR-Lex.
General information, not legal advice. The safety data sheets quoted belong to their manufacturers. Short passages are quoted for comment, and the sheets are not redistributed.
OSHA inspections come unannounced, apart from the few exceptions listed in 29 CFR 1903.6. Get the binder in order before the opening conference, not during it.
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