06/01/2011
It is essential to know what chemicals you have in your workplace. A chemical
inventory is a fundamental piece to your chemical safety program and is your
first step towards chemical safety compliance - whether it's WHMIS training,
environmental reporting, or emergency planning.
Taking inventory also provides the perfect opportunity to ensure that you have
all necessary Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) on hand. It's a good idea to
have MSDSs for both WHMIS and consumer products that you have in your workplace
as the information provided in the MSDS helps to support your chemical program
work. The product inventory can also help you determine if any of these
products require "special attention" or are no longer required so that you can
make arrangements for their safe disposal.
Before you start
Prepare a form which includes the following:
You may also want to document:
Conducting the inventory
Everyone who conducts inventories should be trained on chemical safety and know
the worksite. Take the following steps:
CAUTION: If any chemical container is not labelled, or is leaking, bulging,
corroded, or damaged, or has crystals in a liquid, it should not be moved.
These conditions require immediate attention!
Next steps
When you are finished your inventory ensure that you have an MSDS for each
product. If not, ask the chemical supplier listed on the label to provide one.
Use your MSDSs to identify the ingredients and CAS numbers and add them to your
inventory document.
Once you have a clear picture of exactly what chemicals and MSDSs you have you
can move ahead with improving your chemical safety program to:
TIP: Safely dispose of any chemicals that are no longer needed or are expired.
This will reduce the number of chemicals to be managed and achieve benefits
such as a safer worksite, fewer MSDSs, and simplified worker training.
AplusA-online.de - Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety