Chemicals and SDS — a live substance register instead of a binder

Formally the sheets are available, because they sit in a binder in the supervisor's office. In practice nobody reaches for them, since skin contact or a spill is a matter of seconds, not a walk across the hall. On top of that, some sheets are years old while the supplier has changed the formulation or the classification.

Then there is the inventory problem. Substances enter the plant through purchasing, maintenance, the laboratory and contractors. Without one register nobody can say how many different products are actually in use, in what quantities and in which zones they are stored.

The VIMS chemicals module keeps a live register of substances and mixtures. Each entry carries the manufacturer, CAS or EC number, classification, place of use, approximate quantities and a current safety data sheet available from a phone at the point of work.

A code on the chemical store or at the workstation opens the right substance card on a phone: pictograms, required protection, spill response and first aid. The worker does not have to recall a trade name or hunt for a paper copy.

It also has a training dimension. On-the-job instruction stops being a one-off conversation, because the information is there when it is needed.

During an inspection you can show in seconds that the sheets are current and genuinely available to workers, not merely filed in an office.