[labnetwork] Chemical Inventory Software

[Sweeney, John]

Hi
MSDSonline is a great resource for safety data sheets and GHS label printing. Chemtracker was used for 4 years but was clunky and not reliable. They may have made improvements over the past year or two.

We almost purchased Biovia for chemical management but decided to wait a year or two. Currently the chemicals are inventoried manually. Biovia was the best out of 3 other software las that we considered for Harvard's Center for Nanoscale systems.
Hope this helps.




Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 19, 2016, at 9:05 PM, Matt Moneck <mmoneck at andrew.cmu.edu<mailto:mmoneck at andrew.cmu.edu>> wrote:

Hi Kolin,

Our University uses Chemtracker (https://chemtracker.org/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__chemtracker.org_&d=CwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=cRmvgfWT6iFcPiV0SR8BIe2H_crNKrQjWG3MIWJGoPY&m=_GeN3ZM8HcjgHZ9B2gWNwRwFjCne3Ped9h9Ecan4qi0&s=V0P5noFvBSR4isGAja1DKTSgYH6iCwkpIJhPMAPkeZA&e=>) to monitor chemical inventories across campus.  It is managed by our Environmental Health & Services Department, or EHS (http://www.cmu.edu/ehs<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cmu.edu_ehs&d=CwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=cRmvgfWT6iFcPiV0SR8BIe2H_crNKrQjWG3MIWJGoPY&m=_GeN3ZM8HcjgHZ9B2gWNwRwFjCne3Ped9h9Ecan4qi0&s=WRw2osSgUZmemgqhvxmsZhhuLuRxhVxwlDIc_hsi-J4&e=>).  They provide accounts to individual lab users so that lab managers, PIs, facility managers, etc. can track their own inventories.  EHS can track chemicals campus wide and look at entire building inventories to determine whether they are approaching chemical storage limits allowed by occupancy codes.  In my experience, it is straightforward to use, and provides a user friendly interface for gathering information on inventories per room, per facility, etc.  It also allows for barcode scanning, but I have not utilized this function as of yet.

Our University also has a subscription to MSDS online (https://www.msdsonline.com/msds-search<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.msdsonline.com_msds-2Dsearch&d=CwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=cRmvgfWT6iFcPiV0SR8BIe2H_crNKrQjWG3MIWJGoPY&m=_GeN3ZM8HcjgHZ9B2gWNwRwFjCne3Ped9h9Ecan4qi0&s=hCAi4NjJC6uDzKmO_hp8zK3RsMu7q-Kv2yaYVDpsFW4&e=>).  When we click on a chemical in Chemtracker, it links to MSDS Online for easy access to the MSDS of interest.

Lastly, we use BioRAFT (http://www.bioraft.com/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.bioraft.com_&d=CwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=cRmvgfWT6iFcPiV0SR8BIe2H_crNKrQjWG3MIWJGoPY&m=_GeN3ZM8HcjgHZ9B2gWNwRwFjCne3Ped9h9Ecan4qi0&s=TWtDVItDr6g09kW0P7-b3iZXCqcgQEIGyAMats6TnHI&e=>) to manage safety training, lab inspections, forms, etc. for PIs, staff, students, and postdocs.  Each PI has their own BioRAFT account for managing their students, postdocs, etc.  As a lab manager, I have an account for managing each of the users of our facility.  It is good for managing and monitoring safety training, chemical forms, safety forms, etc.  The interface seems to me a bit cumbersome at times, but overall, I do like the package.  BioRAFT has been working with our EHS Department to improve the interface and customize it to our needs, but this is the only feedback I have on their customer service at this time.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Matt
--
Matthew T. Moneck, Ph.D.
Executive Manager, Carnegie Mellon Nanofabrication Facility
Electrical and Computer Engineering | Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
T: 412.268.5430
F: 412.268.3497
www.ece.cmu.edu<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ece.cmu.edu&d=CwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=cRmvgfWT6iFcPiV0SR8BIe2H_crNKrQjWG3MIWJGoPY&m=_GeN3ZM8HcjgHZ9B2gWNwRwFjCne3Ped9h9Ecan4qi0&s=xA_GW0OVUESodEpFDyL4AgYeldS0wIPVUGICVne2ou8&e=>
nanofab.ece.cmu.edu<http://nanofab.ece.cmu.edu>

From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Kolin Brown
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:23 AM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: [labnetwork] Chemical Inventory Software

To all,

I have not posted for a while, because in the last year, I have changed jobs from Cleanroom Manager to Safety and Chemical Hygiene Coordinator for our College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.  Currently my university is evaluating new software systems for managing its entire chemical inventory.  I would like to ask everyone what software their organization uses to manage their Chemical Inventory and Safety Data Sheets, and if they like it or not, or if they have problems?  We would like to know what systems work for peoples and which system don't meet your needs.

Thanks,
Kolin S. Brown

/ Kolin S. Brown
Safety & Chemical Hygiene Coordinator
Statler College of Engineering &  Mineral Resources
West Virginia University
(304)293-8900 office
(304)366-6551 mobile
ksbrown at mail.wvu.edu<mailto:ksbrown at mail.wvu.edu>

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