How many times do you find yourself taking your bi-weekend trip to the grocery store to stock up on your family food stores with only a crumpled pieces of paper with a somewhat legible scribble of a list and a vague recalling on what last minute thing was yelled out to you as you walked out the door. After a successful trip you come to find out you didn’t need that second gallon of milk and now your family will need to start enjoying cereal for dinner or that gallon of milk will go to waste! It is never just the milk either, plenty of items can be bought in unnecessary surplus, or buying something that will expire way before you can ever get to it. This can also be too common for any lab manager who has an archaic means to keep track of their chemicals. With modern day tools like spreadsheets and digital lists, relying on paper and memory should never be an option anymore, especially when some of the chemicals that companies and institutions house can be up to $ 1,400 per 5 grams, and then some.
Figure 1 Chemical Management Systems can clearly display important information
When bringing your chemical inventory to the digital age, going the extra distance and utilizing a Chemical Management System, all inventories can now be digitally accessed with clear visualizations on what chemicals are within your institute’s inventory. Leveraging these Chemical Management Systems, lab managers and inventory owners can now keep databases of complex compounds with intricate IUPAC nomenclature in a convenient location such as their computer, or even their smartphones. These databases can include critical information such as location details so lab members can pinpoint which labs a specific chemical can be found, which is important if there are multiple storage locations for these inventories. Going digital can also ease the tracking usage and quantities of chemicals as to know when a good time would be to make those restock purchases.
Many Chemicals contain very specific details that pertain to specific storage accommodations, expiration dates and even safety and disposal instructions. Placing incompatible compounds in the same cabinet can result in reactions that nullify the chemicals in storage or even cause hazardous situations. Peroxide forming chemicals are also inventory items that benefit from tracking their expiration date so as to not waste the compound by not using it on time as it degrades to a non-useful chemical. Even when considering disposal of certain chemicals, if a type of chemical compound wasted needs to be isolated from a general aqueous solution, what would otherwise be a simple waste pickup, now must be treated with more delicate, and more expensive waste procedure.
Taking full advantage of any Chemical Management System is a crucial step for any research lab or any company that manages chemicals to never make costly, wasteful purchasing decisions ever again. Keeping track of these compounds via a digital means can alleviate many stressors and allow for better housekeeping and administrative workflows when handling the logistics of your chemical inventory. As any lab manager knows, certain research grade chemicals are never cheap, and can easily be lost if the container is no bigger than a bottle of cough syrup, so why not use the tools available for them.
AUTHOR BIO:-
Manolo Hernandez has been with SafetyStratus since 2022 and has brought his degree in chemistry from California University of Pennsylvania to the team to bring knowledge and experience about chemical safety and general lab practices.
He worked for an environmental lab for a few years learning about asbestos and polarized light microscopy giving him a specialized insight on construction details. Manolo also has a passion for theater and arts giving him great joy to always watch and put on a captivating performance. Other hobbies include karaoke, escape rooms and baking.
