SHACL-SKOS Based Knowledge Representation of Material Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for the Pharmaceutical Industry

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid SHACL-SKOS ontology system for representing and reasoning about Safety Data Sheets in the pharmaceutical industry, improving data sharing and regulatory compliance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid SHACL-SKOS framework for standardized, adaptable SDS knowledge representation in the pharmaceutical sector.

Findings

Enhanced data sharing and retrieval of SDS documents.

Successful implementation for generating composite shipping cover sheets.

Improved regulatory compliance through standardized data models.

Abstract

We report the development of a knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) system built on hybrid SHACL-SKOS ontologies for globally harmonized system (GHS) material Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to enhance chemical safety communication and regulatory compliance. SDS are comprehensive documents containing safety and handling information for chemical substances. Thus, they are an essential part of workplace safety and risk management. However, the vast number of Safety Data Sheets from multiple organizations, manufacturers, and suppliers that produce and distribute chemicals makes it challenging to centralize and access SDS documents through a single repository. To accomplish the underlying issues of data exchange related to chemical shipping and handling, we construct SDS related controlled vocabulary and conditions validated by SHACL, and knowledge systems of similar domains linked via SKOS. The resulting hybrid ontologies aim to provide standardized yet adaptable representations of SDS information, facilitating better data sharing, retrieval, and integration across various platforms. This paper outlines our SHACL-SKOS system architectural design and showcases our implementation for an industrial application streamlining the generation of a composite shipping cover sheet.