This month we profile Project Partner Dan Levine of Product Safety Solutions. McElroy Translation partners with Dan on those MSDS projects that require not only translation of MSDS for other markets, but consultation on how those documents must be written to comply with regulations. An MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is a compilation of information required under the OSHA Communication Standard on the identity of hazardous chemicals, health and physical hazards, exposure limits, and precautions. The format of MSDS is fairly well standardized and many clients take a systematic approach using controlled language to create their MSDS. The standardization of format and controlled content make MSDS translation projects prime candidates for Translation Memory use.

McElroy enjoys a reputation as a premier translation resource for hazard communication documents like MSDSs and labels. But what about the client who wants the entire package? You know… Write the MSDS and label and then translate it into various languages. For projects like these, McElroy can work with contractors whose expertise helps us deliver a complete package. One of our contractors is Dan Levine, president of Product Safety Solutions.

Dan has said that “Almost nobody starts out to become a hazard communicator. We take very different paths to this profession.” An interactive presentation he gave at the 2004 Spring SCHC meeting in New Orleans bears this out. Out of an audience of about 100 people, only one actually took an academic program designed to help them become a hazard communicator.

Dan’s path to hazard communication is the typical circuitous route. Born in New York City, he grew up on Long Island and attending Hicksville High School. He was a baby boomer who found himself in the advanced science track along with some of his friends. “We all had finished biology, chemistry and physics by the end of our sophomore year and were able to take advanced courses. I took mine in biology and chemistry. Luckily, the teachers who taught these courses made them fun as well as educational.” When it came time for college, Dan looked for a school that offered a chemical engineering program. He ended up at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now know as the Polytechnic University).

“The program was pretty tough. I had to complete 144 credits in four years and lots of those credits were labs where you had to spend three hours in lab for the same credit as one hour in class.” He joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and that helped to counter the intensive academic program. “Craziness was the norm at the fraternity house. We were all engineers or scientists and needed to do anything that didn’t involve science. Fortunately, we had some fraternity brothers with great imaginations…..”

Upon graduation, Dan took a job in Syracuse, NY with what was then Allied Chemical. He spent 10 years in manufacturing that included two plant startups and ended up with him as supervisor of the “dry side” of the first and oldest synthetic soda ash complex in North America. But the plant was fighting cheaper, natural soda ash and had a limited life. He jumped at the chance to transfer to headquarters in Morristown, NJ when a job in the product safety department became available. “My dad was into health foods and organic gardening and sparked my interest in chemical toxins and hazards. I think this helped to steer my path to product safety.”

Dan spent 31 years with Allied, which by mergers, acquisitions and name changes became AlliedSignal Inc. He became a “hazard communicator” when the person who did precautionary labeling had to undergo a medical procedure that would keep him away from work for two months. There was a current need and Dan, who was then concentrating on product stewardship issues, was “volunteered” by his boss to fill the gap. Over the next few years, many other “gaps” had to be filled and Dan’s eagerness to learn new things helped him to develop expertise in all the issues related to chemical product safety. He also joined SCHC, the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication, about a year or two after it was created. Dan’s a joiner and he soon found himself running the Society’s program committee for three years. He joined the board of directors but then found himself as secretary/treasurer and eventually became president. He is currently a member of the board and active in several committees.

In 1994, Dan became the corporation’s Director of Product Safety and Integrity. His responsibilities included not only the chemical products, but overall direction for the product safety programs of the aerospace and automotive business sectors as well. “I was far from an expert in aerospace and automotive issues, but they were very interesting areas and we had some great folks directing the day to day programs in these areas.”

Dan left Allied in 1998 and started up Product Safety Solutions. Chemical product safety has been in his blood since 1978 and this provided the opportunity to do it full time. His clients vary from Fortune 500 companies to owner-operators. “The work varies client to client and it gives me the opportunity to do some training for folks who are anxious to learn. Also, no two days are the same and I guess that’s part of the appeal.” Dan and McElroy found each other through the SCHC and it has resulted in a relationship that puts two disciplines together to give McElroy the ability to deliver a complete “hazard communication solution” for our clients.