Chemical inventory system (RSS)

To get to the Group Management section:

• At the top right of the screen, select your initials. If you cannot see your initials, select the profile icon.
• Select your name. If you cannot see your name, select profile.
• In the Group Membership section, select the group you would like to edit

 

How do I add someone to an existing group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the blue Add icon in the lower right.
• Search for the person you wish to add by Last Name, First Name or WATIAM.
• Choose their level of access and select Save.

How do I remove someone from an existing group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the person.
• Select the removal icon (trash can) in the upper right.
• Select Remove.

How do grant the Delegate role to someone in my group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the name of the person.
• Select the “Delegate” role using the drop down.
• Select Save.

What can Delegates do in a group?

• Add, edit and remove members
• Add, edit and remove locations
• Grant Delegate access to others
• The Delegate role also grants administrative roles into documents like Hazard Assessments,

How do I remove the Delegate role from someone in my group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the name of the person.
• Change the person’s role to “Member” using the drop down.
• Select Save.

To see what a PI or Delegate vs a User can do, see this chart on Understanding Chemical Inventory Roles .

To get to the Group Management section:

• At the top right of the screen, select your initials. If you cannot see your initials, select the profile icon.
• Select your name. If you cannot see your name, select profile.
• In the Group Membership section, select the group you would like to edit

 

How do I add a location to a group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the Locations tab.
• Select the blue Add icon and search for a location.
• Type in the building name and select from the list.
• Type in your room number and select it from the list.
• Choose Save.

How do I remove a location from a group?

• Go to the Group Management section
• Select the Locations tab.
• Select the location to be removed and choose the removal icon (trash can).
• Select Remove.

Sublocations are mandatory for the system to work. A lab either uses unique sublocations that define areas in their room such as flammable cabinet, shelf A, room number, or they may choose to use one generic sublocation for everything to meet the mandatory field requirements, for example, John Smith's Lab.

See the video below on how to complete the to tasks, or see the written instructions in the Getting Started Guide.

View the handout on Adding a Chemical to your Inventory view the videos below.

Add a chemical to your inventory on your desktop computer.

Add a chemical to your inventory on a mobile device.

Alternatively, you can add chemicals with the bulk upload feature using the Inventory Template for Importing a Laboratory Inventory as per the How to Bulk Upload instructions. To do this with the Safety Office, book a Part 2 meeting.

How to add a novel compound to your inventory: 

How to create a custom chemical name:

 How to add a commercial chemical product (For PI's and Delegates) (i.e. when the chemicals isn't in the list):

Chemical container:

Refers to one physical bottle, jug or vial that holds a hazardous chemical. Each
container should be added so that the amount of physical containers you have matches the amount on
hand in your virtual inventory in Chemicals. The chemical container gets 'moved' around within your chemical inventory.

Container Options:

Available for every container in your inventory.

• Checkout – The checkout feature allows for a container to be checked out to an individual within your group or anyone on campus. Checking out a container is temporary with the intention of the container being returned to its inventory group.
• Transfer – Allows for a permanent transfer of a container from one inventory group to another. Note: to complete the transfer process, the container will need to be accepted by the receiving inventory owner.
• Dispense – Intended for Stockrooms, allows for “child” or secondary containers to be created from a larger “parent” container.
• Clone – Create a copy; a new container with all the same details as the original. Barcode information and comments will not be cloned.
• Edit – Allows container details to be updated or modified.
• Remove – Deletes the container from your inventory. This cannot be undone once confirmed.
• Move – Allows the transfer of a container or multiple containers from one sublocation to another within your inventory.
• Reassign – A quick and easy way to assign a chemical that was initially entered into the inventory incorrectly. For instance, a container of Acetone was added but should have been Nail Polish Remover. Reassigning the container will update only the chemical name and retain the container details such as barcode, chemical information (size, unit, type), sublocation, date received/open, and applicable comments associated with the container. 

• History – Provides a history for the container. This will provide detailed information as to when a container was modified, what was modified and by whom.

Watch this video on container options:

Watch this video on reassigning containers:

To search for a chemical container: From the Chemicals homepage, select Search Chemicals

1. Within the Keyword tab:
   • You can search by CAS#, name, formula, GHS or container barcode
   • You can also specify a location, sublocation, or tag
2. You can also search by substructure within the Substructure tab
3. Select the Chemical from returned results

 

This software has the ability so you can search chemical across campus to request to borrow small components to avoid purchasing a whole new bottle. If you do not want other labs to see your containers, mark them as Private either on your bulk upload sheet, or when they are added to your inventory using the online system.

We encourage you to always send a copy of your borrowing request to chemsafety@uwaterloo.ca. This allows the Safety Office to email the individual directly, rather than send an email only through the system.

Watch this video on borrowing containers:

 Watch this video on sharing containers:

Adding RFID to your inventory has two advantages:

1. RFID allows you to uniquely identify each container in your laboratory. Once completed, inventory reconciliation can be done with a scanner which is both fast and accurate.
2. RFID allows users to scan the bottle during use to quickly pull up the safety information on the app and make changes to inventory.

Note: RSS uses barcode and RFID interchangeably inventory file is imported or added, all containers are available for barcoding based on their sublocation. All users can share the task of barcoding.

1. To begin barcoding inventory
   1. Launch the app on your mobile device.
   2. Select the settings icon in the lower right hand corner.
   3. Select the Barcode your imported inventory link.
   4. Select a sublocation and then a chemical from the list.
   5. Select Display.
   6. Select Missing Barcode.
2. To barcode the container
   1. Retrieve the chemicals and place a barcode on your container.
   2. On your mobile device, select Scan on the container you wish to barcode.
   3. This will enable the camera feature on your mobile device.
   4. Scan the barcode (The container will clear from the Missing Barcode list and appear on the Barcoded list.)
3. Repeat Step 2 to barcode all of your inventory
   • Note: You can also swipe left on a displayed container to edit or delete the container.

Laboratories may book a Part 3 meeting to have an Safety Office individual add RFID tags with them to help the inital tagging process go faster. For these meetings:

1. The inventory must already be added to the online system
2. The laboratory user must be present and actively tagging with the Safety Office worker

The safety office will provide access to RFID tags to labs free of charge. Request tags from chemsafety@uwaterloo.ca. Existing manufacturer barcodes cannot be used for scanning or reconcilliation, but they can be placed in the Custom Barcode section to allow them to be a searchable text.

To scan the RFID tags, book the Safety Office to come and scan your lab. Prior to the visit, ensure:

1. All tags that fell off of bottles are disposed of and replaced.
   1. If you are not sure what bottle the tag came from, Scan the tag using the UC Chemical app to determine its orginal location. You can then edit the container and scan the tag to replace it.
2. Dispose of any finished or unneeded containers and remove them from the system.
3. Tag any bottles that were recently purchased and had not been tagged yet.

During the visit, a laboratory member must be present for the scan. With this visit, the Safety Office will provide you with an excel document of all the tags scanned.

After the visit, finish the reconciliation process:

1. Go to the chemical inventory and select the "Inventory Summary" page
2. Scroll down on the page until "Reconciliation" and select "Reconcile your inventory by room"
3. From the drop down, select the rooms in the scan as shown in the excel document provided by the Safety Office
4. Upload the excel list provided into the "Upload Scan"
5. The module will then start comparing the scan to your inventory.
6. Review the reconcillation summary. It will tell you:
   1. Location Match - number of RFID tags found in the expected location
   2. Location Mismatch - number of RFID tags found in a different location tahan expected
   3. Unscanned - number of tags expected but were not scanned
   4. New - number of RFID tags scanned that are not currently associated with an inventory item
   5. Accounted for - number of RFID tags not relevent to the reconciliation of this inventory (e.g. one from another inventory)
7. You can add as many rooms as necessary then click "Finish Uploading"
8. Now download the "Reconciliation Report"
9. Click "Finish Reconcilation"
10. Review the "Reconciliation Report" and go to your inventory search page:
    1. All items that say "Scanned" can stay as is
    2. All items that say "Unscanned" should be either confirmed to be existed (e.g. solvents you chose not to be barcoded) or deleted (e.g. items that were used up)
    3. If there are items that say "New" if there are lots of items, you probably scanned your extra tags. These can be ignored. If there are only a couple, a tag may have been added to a bottle without the bottle being added to the inventory. Do a quick runthrough your excel inventory, if you can't identify which bottle it missing, just leave these. You may find this issue in time as you use your inventory.
11. Once all your conflicts are resolved, go "Inventory Summary" and click "Certify Inventory" to confirm that your inventory is accurate.

If you have any questions, email chemsafety@uwaterloo.ca if you are interested.

• Ensure laboratory inventory is up to date and current SDSs are available

• Provide SDS log-in/access to all workers

• Regularly inspect chemicals for as per safety and storage requirements

• Maintain this page
• Provide administrative support of the inventory system
• Create manuals and templates for facilitation of the use of the inventory system