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“Your Safer Source for Science”
Chemical Inventory
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Chemical Inventory, continued
You have now decided it is time to take an inventory. Plan for the event using the Inventory Planning Checklist below. A very effective means of taking and temporarily recording your inventory is by using your phone or tablet as a recording device.
It is an absolute that you never undertake an inventory alone. You must always have a teammate. The teammate is there to help you, to hold a ladder, to go for help or just to be there but, in any case, you should never work alone. We urge against recruiting students. It is also an absolute that the right kind and type of fire extinguishers be in the room with you and immediately available for use.
Another absolute is that you are appropriately dressed and spill materials are present. In general, we assume you have done all the preplanning and all the plans have been implemented.
Record on paper or computer, the chemical name, bottle size, bottle type and approximate amount of chemical present. For example, a typical description might read, “one 5-lb bottle, glass, of acacia, about one-half full.” You may opt to use Flinn Online ChemventoryTM, which is a cloud-based laboratory chemical inventory system that allows multiple users access to a single chemical inventory database from multiple locations and devices. The program comes fully-loaded with
GHS pictograms, hazard codes, and signal word information for over 2,400 Flinn chemicals. You can build your inventory by selecting from a list of Flinn chemicals or add your own chemical information manu- ally. You can build an inventory database for your school and invite other teachers, lab assistants, and administrators to join for free. The program also includes a label printing feature to print GHS-compliant labels for any of the 2,400+ Flinn chemicals listed in the program. You can also take advantage of the chemical solution label printing options to easily keep track of all the solutions you prepare in your lab.
CHEMICAL INVENTORY continued on next page.
• Who will be the team members to perform the inventory?
• How much time shall you allow to perform this task?
• As materials are taken from the shelf (if you elect to do this at this time) where and how will they then be housed?
• Do you have the requisite safety items to protect yourselves during the process?
• Will this be simply an inventory of what substances you have or will it be a major reorganization of the chemical stores
facility?
• Are flashlights, ladders and other such devices available?
• Will the room be properly ventilated during the process?
• Will a means of communicating with the outside be available in case of a serious problem like spill, breakage or fire.
• How will you record the chemicals on a substance-by-substance basis?
• How will you handle unknowns or “mystery” substances as these are encountered?
• Will spill materials, such as sand, neutralizers, etc., be available and, if yes, which have you chosen?
• Will alternate containers (empty bottles, cans, bags, etc.) be available when a broken container is encountered?
• Is there a plastic broom, plastic dust pan and plastic receptacle available for cleanup?
• Have you made arrangements for the removal of unwanted substances or, if you want to isolate these materials, have you planned for temporary and safe storage methods while you examine your disposal options?
• Will a fume hood be available to very temporarily store a substance which, upon discovery, needs your immediate attention?
• Have you undertaken and completed as much storeroom house- keeping as possible prior to the inventory so you are not faced with obstacles that would lead to an accident?
• Have school authorities and maintenance people been alerted to this inventory undertaking?
• If you elect to do some disposal during the inventory process (we urge against this) are the reacting chemicals available?
• Have you arranged for the process to be free of interruptions that might distract you at a critical moment?
• Will the team members performing the inventory be wearing appropriate clothing?
• Will all sources of ignition be eliminated?
• Is it your plan to add some form of label or other kind of identification to each chemical container and, if so, have you decided how this is to be done and are the means to do it available?
• Will you have a supply of replacement caps available for containers with bad closures? If you expect to transfer some substances to alternate containers—are such available?
• What will be done with the many bottles of solutions that have been prepared and stored for lab use over the past years? Will you include these in your inventory? How?
• If you expect to rearrange your chemical shelves during the process are shelf labels available?
• Do you expect to identify substances by their hazardous char- acter during the process? If yes, will you then house them (like flammables, acids, etc.) in dedicated and approved cabinets? Are the cabinets now available? Is there sufficient space in the exist- ing cabinets?
• Will the method you select to record this inventory allow you, if you elect to do so, to perpetually maintain the inventory?
• Will you have tape or an adhesive of some kind available to affix loose labels? Will you have blank labels available to place on currently unlabeled materials which you can identify with accuracy?
Inventory Planning Checklist