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How long is an SDS valid in Australia? The five-year rule explained

By SupplySafe Team Published Updated 8 min read

The short answer to “how long is an SDS valid?” is that Australian law doesn’t give it an expiry date at all. Instead, the manufacturer or importer must review it at least once every five years and amend it whenever the information needs updating, and your workplace has to get the amended version when it changes.

So a sheet that’s more than five years old isn’t “expired”. It’s a prompt to check you’ve got the current one. Here’s how the rule actually works, and what to do about that folder of ageing sheets on the workshop wall.

What is the SDS 5-year review rule?

Under regulation 330 of the model WHS Regulations, the manufacturer or importer of a hazardous chemical must:

(a) review the safety data sheet at least once every 5 years; and (b) amend the safety data sheet whenever necessary to ensure that it contains correct, current information.

Safe Work Australia says the same thing in plainer words: manufacturers and importers must “review each SDS at least once every 5 years” and “keep SDS updated with correct and current information.”

Two things are worth noticing.

Five years is a minimum, not a timetable. It’s the longest a sheet can go without a review. If something changes sooner, the SDS should change sooner. Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice for preparing SDS gives examples: “whenever any new information about the hazardous chemical is known or received or when the formulation changes.”

The clock runs from the latest review, not the first issue. The Code says the review is due “at least once every five years from the date of original preparation or the last revision of the SDS.” A sheet first written in 2014 and revised in 2024 is on the 2024 clock. If your sheets carry a pile of different dates, our guide to SDS revision date vs issue date walks through them.

Safe Work Australia says the model WHS laws “have been implemented in all jurisdictions except Victoria”, and each state and territory has its own version. Queensland’s Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, for example, uses the same regulation numbers quoted here. Victoria has its own rules, covered below.

Is there an SDS expiry date in Australia?

Search “SDS expiry date Australia” or “safety data sheet expiry” and you’ll find plenty of people treating five years like a use-by date. The regulations don’t say that.

Schedule 7 of the model WHS Regulations lists what an SDS must state. On dates, it asks for one thing: “the date it was last reviewed or, if it has not been reviewed, the date it was prepared.” There’s no “valid until” field. Regulation 330 talks about reviewing and amending the sheet, not about it lapsing.

That matters in the real world. Binning an old sheet doesn’t make your register more compliant. It just leaves a gap where safety information should be. The useful move is to swap it for the current one. That might be a properly revised sheet, or the same content re-reviewed with a newer date.

Some sheets print wording like “valid for five years from this date”. That’s the manufacturer’s own wording. The regulation sets a review duty on the manufacturer, not a shelf life on the document.

To be fair, you’ll see “expiry” in official material too. Safe Work Australia’s own register template has a column headed “Issue date of SDS (SDS has an expiry date of 5 years)”, and WorkSafe Victoria’s hazardous substances compliance code says employers need SDS with “issue dates within the last five years”. Read those as the practical upshot: once a sheet is more than five years past its last review, go and get the current one.

What if nobody makes the product any more?

There’s a carve-out worth knowing about. Regulation 330(5) says the duty to review and amend the sheet (and the duty to hand over the current SDS on request) doesn’t apply to:

a manufacturer or importer of a hazardous chemical who has not manufactured or imported the hazardous chemical in the past 5 years.

So if you’re still working through old stock of a discontinued product, a newer sheet may simply not exist. The Code of Practice also says an SDS “should still be made available after the hazardous chemical is withdrawn from sale as it may be required by workplaces at a later date.” Ask the manufacturer anyway. If nothing newer exists, keep the latest sheet you can get.

What does the law ask of your workshop?

The review is the manufacturer’s job. Yours is to get the new version and keep it handy.

Regulation 344 of the model WHS Regulations says a business must obtain the current SDS when a hazardous chemical is first supplied. If the SDS is later amended, regulation 344(1)(b) says you must obtain the amended sheet no later than when the chemical is first supplied to your workplace after the amendment. If you can’t get it then, you must get it as soon as practicable afterwards and before that new supply is used.

The same regulation says the current SDS must be readily accessible to workers who use, handle or store the chemical, and to emergency service workers. Your hazardous chemicals register has to include the current SDS for each chemical too. Our guide to hazardous chemical register requirements covers that side.

One catch: suppliers must provide the current SDS when they first supply a hazardous chemical to a workplace, and again with the first supply after the sheet is amended. But under regulation 339(4) that duty doesn’t apply to retailers or to consumer products. Grab a can from the hardware store and don’t expect a fresh SDS to land in your inbox.

What should you do with a sheet over five years old?

  1. Find the right date. Look for the date the sheet was last reviewed. Safe Work Australia says this date “is usually written in Section 16”. Use the latest review or revision date, not the “first issued” date or the print date.
  2. Check the manufacturer’s website. Safe Work Australia’s guidance for workplaces says you can get an SDS from “the manufacturer’s website” or from “the manufacturer, supplier or importer, if you ask for one.”
  3. Ask for the current sheet. Under regulation 330(4), the manufacturer or importer must provide the current SDS to anyone who is likely to be affected by the chemical and asks for it. Under regulation 339(3), a supplier must provide it to a person at your workplace who asks, unless the supplier is a retailer or the product is a consumer product.
  4. Swap it in properly. Put the current sheet in your register and take the old one out of the folder, so nobody grabs the wrong one in a hurry.
  5. Make a note if nothing has changed. If the manufacturer says the sheet is still current, or the product hasn’t been made or imported for years, jot down who you asked and when. Then you’re not chasing the same answer next year.

New to the whole register? Start with the chemical register audit checklist.

Is it different in Victoria?

Victoria hasn’t adopted the model WHS laws. Its rules sit in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, and WorkSafe Victoria’s wording is a little different.

WorkSafe Victoria says manufacturers and importers must:

review and revise each SDS as often as necessary (at least every 5 years) to make sure that the information is accurate and up to date

Employers using or storing hazardous substances or dangerous goods must ensure “they obtain an up-to-date SDS for each of these products” and that employees, contractors and emergency services personnel have access to them. WorkSafe Victoria also lists “date of preparation or last review” as required content on a compliant SDS.

Different law, similar message. Five years is the outer limit for a review, and the workplace’s job is to hold the current sheet.

How SupplySafe handles it

SupplySafe for workshops calls this “review due”, never “expiry”, and counts it from the revision date on the sheet (falling back to the issue date only when there’s no revision date), with every screen showing which date it’s based on. When a manufacturer publishes a newer sheet, your register shows “A newer revision is available”.

Frequently asked questions

How long is an SDS valid in Australia?
An SDS has no legal expiry date. The manufacturer or importer must review it at least once every five years and amend it whenever necessary so it contains correct, current information.
When does an SDS expire?
Not on a fixed date. Five years is the longest a manufacturer can go without reviewing the sheet, not a shelf life. Once a sheet is more than five years past its last review, check the manufacturer's website or ask the manufacturer or supplier for the current one.
When does the SDS 5 year review clock start?
From the latest review. Safe Work Australia's Code of Practice says the review is due at least once every five years from the date of original preparation or the last revision of the SDS.
What if the product isn't made any more?
The duty to review and amend doesn't apply to a manufacturer or importer who hasn't made or imported the chemical in the past five years, so a newer sheet may not exist. Ask anyway, and if nothing newer exists, keep the latest sheet you can get.
When does my workshop need the updated SDS?
If an SDS is amended, you must get the amended sheet no later than when the chemical is first supplied to your workplace after the change. If you can't get it then, get it as soon as practicable and before that new supply is used.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice. It quotes and links the regulator's own wording; check the source and your state or territory regulator for anything that applies to your workplace. SupplySafe distributes Safety Data Sheets and does not author, edit or certify them. Rules change: see What's changing for dated, official updates.

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