Page 34 - Occupational Health & Safety, January 2018

CHEMICAL SAFETY/SDS
Chemical Safety: Find Your Flow
A good chemical approval process contains three vital elements,
all of which can be enhanced and supported by a technology solution. BY KRAIG HABERER
The ingredients of a sound chemical safety program include an accurate chemical inventory, on-demand safety data sheets (SDS), and an efficient yet robust chemical approval process. While there are many approaches to track chemical inventories and approvals, there are some best practices to achieve chemical compli- ance and ease the burden of managing your chemical inventories. In this article, we’ll discuss how compa- nies today utilize a mix of business process and soft- ware to achieve worker safety and hazard communi- cation compliance.
Process as Prevention
As with our own health, the best medicine is preven- tion. Identifying and tracking hazardous chemicals coming into a facility is the best way to boost your chemical safety efforts and better prepare your orga- nization for any regulatory spot-checking. By taking a preventative approach through a well-designed chem- ical introduction process, rather than relying solely on prescriptive measures based on periodic inventories,
your understanding of your organization’s chemical footprintgainsimmediacyandtransparency.
A good chemical approval process contains three vital elements, all of which can be enhanced and sup- ported by a technology solution: the approval form, an approval process, and technology to run the work- flow. The approval form contains all relevant chemi- cal, use and regulatory data required for approval. The approval process is the logic and step flow of appropri- ate reviewers and approval steps. Finally, the technol- ogy is the software that powers the form and business logic through the workflow process.
Make Your Approval Form Work for You
A chemical approval form is a document of record, completed and submitted online or in print, that enumerates the data that initiates the request, as well as data required for the material to be approved for the facility. Often created by the EHS team or safety manager, the form outlines the required and optional fields to be completed for chemical approval.
The form is then incorporated in the business
28 Occupational Health & Safety | JANUARY 2018
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