Cost-effective Chemical Inventory Tracking Software for Educators and Students
By Tony Diamantidis, Sr. Director Chemical Safety Software
Managing chemicals in colleges and universities poses some unique challenges. Rapidly changing lab projects and a never-ending pass-through of students and visiting educators complicates lab safety and chemical safety training. This, coupled with budget pressures and limitations, creates an environment where detail is occasionally overlooked and accidents or near-accidents in the laboratory can happen.
The solution that I designed years ago at the University of California at Berkeley has continued to be updated and improved at many leading educational institutions and R&D organizations that include Stanford University, The University of Illinois, The University of Virginia, The University of Texas, Penn State, SRI International, NASA and the US Department of Energy, among others.
The premise is simple: Sign-up for an extremely easy to use chemical information database software that is managed by a small EHS and/or lab staff through a pay-as-you-go subscription plan, and have the information available at no cost to everyone that handles or is around chemicals or other hazardous materials through the web and/or through smart phones and tablets. Everyone in the institution can find Safety Data (SDS) information on any chemical they’re working with, print GHS and/or container labels with barcodes, transfer and dispose chemical containers easily and safely, and produce targeted reports.
Where traditional chemical management or environmental management (EHS) software have been costly to acquire and implement, and difficult to learn and use, Chemical Safety Software, the company I founded 28 years ago, offers exponential technologies for chemical management and EHS at a fraction, a very small fraction, of the cost.
A Lower Cost Alternative to Cispro Lab Management Software
As an example, three different universities, in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio transitioned recently from Cispro to Chemical Safety’s Environmental Management Systems (EMS) software. Their data was converted at no cost to EMS in one day and they were up and running within 24 hours of signup.
Training was two hours long, also at no cost, and the total cost to replace Cispro with Chemical Safety’s lab management software, for use by the entire university, was $500 per month for one of the institutions, $800 for the second and $149 per month for the third (costs varied based on features desired and paid users). The savings achieved by all three schools was more than 80%, while access to information was made available to exponentially more staff, students and educators. A research institute in Los Angeles, California, implemented EMS for $1,000 per month, with 1,000 active users.
Pay-as-you-go and function-driven EHS software like EMS guarantee consistent uptime, are frequently updated and provide immediate and effective user support. Users and functions can be added or removed at any time. Few need to pay, but everyone benefits.
The sum total of signing up for EMS:
- Initial cost of acquisition: zero
- Monthly cost of use: minimal
- Cost of implementation: zero
- Ongoing cost of support: zero
- Benefits derived: priceless!
If you have been considering replacing your Cispro lab management software because it’s become too expensive, visit www.chemicalsafety.com. You can sign up for EMS at chemicalsafety.com/pricing and you can download at no cost programs for smart phones at tablets in the Apple Store or Google Play (look for EMS.GHS, EMS.Inventory and EMS.Waste and EMS.Audit).