MSDS for home heating oil:

This document provides information on the contents of Crude Oil, Home Heating Oil, & other fuel oil material safety data sheets or Heating Oil MSDS.

MSDS [Material Safety Data Sheet] information for No. 2 Home Heating Oil

Here we summarize the basic information provided on MSDS sheets (material data safety sheets) for home heating oil. This information is a condensation of the full MSDS information on heating oil - readers should be sure to review the full home heating oil MSDS.

A typical No. 2 home heating oil MSDS document provided by Hess Corporation includes the hazard identification information for home heating oil that we list below. The same document provides information about toxicity levels - the exposure necessary for serious medical effects to be at risk or to actually occur.

• Eye contact with heating oil: Contact with eyes may cause mild irritation. Flush with clean water for at least 15 minutes.
• Skin contact with heating oil: Practically non-toxic following a single acute exposure; may cause skin irritation with prolonged or repeated contact; liquid may be absorbed through the skin in toxic amounts if large areas of skin are repeatedly exposed. Remove contaminated clothing, wash with soap and water or waterless hand cleaner; seek medical attention of skin redness develops.
• Inhalation of heating oil [presumably refers to liquid inhalation? fumes?]: excessive exposure may cause irritation of the nose, throat, lungs, and respiratory tract. Central nervous system (brain) effects may include headache, dizziness, loss of balance and coordination, unconsciousness, coma, respiratory failure, and death.
  
  MOVE TO FRESH AIR - provide artificial respiration (CPR) if necessary - seek immediate medical help.
• Ingestion of heating oil: major threat occurs from vomiting and breathing liquid drops into the lungs; aspiration [presumably of liquid heating oil drops] can lead to chemical pneumonia (fluid in the lungs), severe lung damage, respiratory failure, or death.
  
  DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING - seek immediate medical help.
  
  Ingestion of heating oil may also cause gastrointestinal disturbances, irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, central nervous system (brain) effects similar to alcohol intoxication, and in severe cases of heating oil ingestion, effects may lead to tremors, convulsions, loss of consciousness, coma, respiratory arrest, and death.
• Flue gases produced by burning heating oil in an area without adequate ventilation [presumably also where a chimney is not venting properly] may result in hazardous levels of combustion products, including carbon monoxide, and inadequate oxygen levels that can cause unconsciousness, suffocation, and death.
• Carcinogenicity of heating oil: [cancer risk from home heating oil exposure]: similar products have caused skin cancer and systemic toxicity in laboratory animals following repeated applications. The significance of these results to human exposure has not been determined.
• Fire and Explosion Hazards of No. 2 Home Heating Oil [fumes]: OSHA and NFPA Class 2 COMBUSTIBLE LIQUID (see Section 14 for transportation classification). Vapors may be ignited rapidly when exposed to heat, spark, open flame or other source of ignition.
  
  When mixed with air and exposed to an ignition source, flammable vapors can burn in the open or explode in confined spaces. Being heavier than air, vapors may travel long distances to an ignition source and flash back. Runoff to sewer may cause fire or explosion hazard.

Exposure Limits for No. 2 Home Heating Oil & Kerosene

• SAFETY DATA SHEET for KEROSENE[PDF] (2016) New Jersey Department of Health, retrieved 2021/12/23 original source: nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1091.pdf
• SAFETY DATA SHEET for No. 2 HEATING OIL [PDF] (2010) New Jersey Department of Health, retrieved 2021/12/23 original source: nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/2444.pdf

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil - Petroleum Distillates in Air

As you may read at

• REGULATIONS AND ADVISORIES PERTAINING TO FUEL OIL [PDF] (ATSDR data),

the permissible exposure limit (PEL) time weighted average exposure (TWA) for petroleum distillates (focused on naphtha), range from a 1992 NIOSH guideline of 85 ppm (350 mg/M3) to IDLH's standard of 10,000 ppm. A typical PEL is 400 to 500 ppm.

The following workplace exposure limit for heating oil is quoted from ATSDR.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Air Force Office of Safety and Health (AFOSH) regulate levels of petroleum products in the private sector and Air Force workplaces, respectively.

The maximum allowable amount of petroleum products in the workroom air during an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, is 400 parts of petroleum distillates (naphtha) per million parts of air, or more simply stated, 400 ppm.

An acute inhalation MRL [Minimum Risk Level] of 0.02 mg/M3 was derived for No. 2 heating oil (fuel oil), based on a LOAEL [Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Level] value of 65 mg/m3 for neurobehavioral effects (mild transient ataxia and CNS [Central Nervous System] depression) in mice exposed to airborne concentrations of No. 2 fuel oil.

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil or other Petroleum Distillates in Water

US EPA specifies that the domestic water supply (for drinking or bathing) must be essentially free from oil and grease, particularly from the tastes and odors that emanate from petroleum products.

The U.S. national clean water act designates oil and grease as conventional pollutants. U.S. state and some Canadian provincial regulations pertaining to heating oil can be found both in the table cited above and at this website in detail

at OIL TANK LEAK & ABANDONMENT REGULATIONS

Carcinogenicity of Heating Oil - Cancer Risk

The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) has addressed the carcinogenic (cancer causing) classification of petroleum products for occupational exposures such as in petroleum refining and in handling of vehicle, marine and aviation fuels. (IARC 1989 Groups 2A - 2B, and 3). In the IARC/World Health Organization monograph "Occupational Exposures in Petroleum Refining", the researchers concluded that "Residual (heavy) fuel oils are possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). - and included these more detailed remarks:

• There is inadequate evidence for the carcinogenicity in humans of fuel oils.
• There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of residual (heavy) fuel oils.
• There is limited evidence for the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of fuel oil No. 2.

In formulating the overall evaluation, the Working Group also took note of the following supporting evidence reported in the monograph on occupational exposures in petroleum refining. There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of light and heavy catalytically cracked distillates, of light and heavy vacuum distillates and of cracked residues derived from the refining of crude oil.

Crude Oil Material Data Safety Sheet - Crude Oil MSDS

The Crude Oil MSDS identifies the key components in crude oil and discusses crude oil hazards, health effects from over exposure, chronic exposure to crude oil, and other information.

• CRUDE OIL MSDS FROM MARTIN MARIETTA [PDF] Materials Corp. provides health, safety, exposure, and toxicological as well as ecological information. Important basic crude oil exposure protection advice is included for persons responding to accidental release (a crude oil spill).
• CRUDE OIL MSDS FROM EL PASO CORP [PDF] is provided by the El Paso Corporation. The El Paso Crude Oil MSDS indicates that Toxicological and Ecological information were unavailable in this document last revised 06/26/2007.

Crude Oil Dispersant Material Data Safety Sheets - Dispersants Sprayed on Gulf or Injected into Gulf Oil Well Spill: Corexit, Dispersit, Others

See MSDS Sheets for OIL DISPERSANTS for our full article on this topic.

Dispersants, used to break up oil spills both on the water surface and deep below the surface are intended to reduce the impact of crude oil spills on the ocean and its sealife.

In an unprecedented quantity of at least 700,000 gallons, Corexit® dispersants, produced by Nalco Energy Services, for example, were sprayed on the water surface or pumped below the surface in the 2010 oil leak catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

But dispersants themselves are toxic and though diluted by the water into which they are sprayed, may have long term effects on the environment.

Although Corexit® product MSDSs include both 2-butoxyethanol and 38% 2-butoxyethanol, (both toxic chemicals) according to the New York Times ("Worry About Dispersant Rises as Men in Work Crew Complain of Health Problems", 28 May 2010), Nalco, the company that produces a series of Corexit dispersant products, has declined to disclose its proprietary chemical formula for these products that incude Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527, and Corexit 9580.

For research citations concerning the teratogenicity of fuel oil exposure see HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS (link just below) for information about possible health hazards from exposure to various forms of oil, crude oil, heavy oil, or home heating oil in liquid or gas (fumes) forms.

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Continue reading at HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• CRUDE OIL & DISPERSANT EXPOSURE
• HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS
• OIL TANK SAFETY flammability and explosion hazards of fuel oil fumes and where we provide an extensive list of hazards and safety concerns for fuel oil.
• OIL TANK LEAK & ODOR ADVICE handling leaky oil tanks as well as links to oil tank leak regulations for U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
• BOILER NOISE SMOKE ODORS flue gas leaks, smells, and hazards from the combustion products of oil burning heating appliances.

Suggested citation for this web page

MSDS SHEETS for HOME HEATING OIL at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to HEATING OIL, OIL BURNERS, OIL FIRED HEATERS, OIL TANKS

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

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