After several months of testing and partial implementation, Georgia Tech Facilities is in the final stages of a campus-wide rollout of its new chemical tracking and safety system. Once in place, the new system will offer researchers a comprehensive, Web-based platform to purchase, monitor and dispose of its chemical stores.

This is no small job. Marcia Kinstler, the project's implementation director, estimates the campus is home to some 44,000 containers, spread out over 1,000 labs and industrial supply closets.

Employees should expect Georgia Tech is doing everything it can to ensure a safe and healthful work environment, she said. This system streamlines processes for inventory management and provides uniform tracking of the chemicals and supplies used on campus.

Known as Chematix, the system maintains an inventory for each laboratory and industrial chemical currently in use on campus. Tech signed a contract to purchase the system earlier this year, following the recommendation from a campus committee assigned to study the issue.

Designed specifically for a university environment, Chematix will assist with procurement and purchase processing, laboratory delivery and facility inventory management, surplus distribution and hazardous materials disposal. Additionally, procurement of all laboratory items will be possible through this system, providing easier ordering processes with the ability to check order status from the Web. This past spring, the Board of Regents expressed interest in making Chematix available to the entire university system.

When it comes to regulatory control, Chematix meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's documentation standards for chemical acquisition and disposal and complies with the requirements outlined in the state's right-to-know laws concerning public employee hazardous chemical protection.

Much of the implementation is being handled by chemistry students hired to perform the conversion, barcode-labeling the existing campus chemical inventory and entering the data into the new system.

We are pleased that we'll be able to offer temporary employment to a few students, said Duane Slack, a chemical hazards management information specialist who will provide long-term support for the system. The students will save lab personnel and campus staffs many hours of work while providing students an inside view of how a variety of laboratories work.

Kinstler said Tech is working with the vendor to develop a complete training program and supporting job aids.

For more information:
Chemical Management Information System
www.cmis.gatech.edu