Background
Risk assessment of activities is central to a safe workplace and a legal requirement. However, it is often an extensive job that requires specialist knowledge, time and communication with affected employees.
As part of our continuous improvement work where we go from being a chemical management system to a business support, we have developed an easy-to-understand tool, Traffic lights - Intersolia. With this automated functionality, all your products will be assigned a color based on their hazardous properties and it gives you and your colleagues an immediate indication of the product's danger.
Example
The maintenance department must quickly replace a compressor to stop production. The compressor is ready to start but must be lubricated before commissioning. Unfortunately, the chemical cabinet is empty and the WD-40 is being acquired in a hurry, because it has been used before. Due to the stress, you are not very careful and spray too happy. In this example, Traffic lights - Intersolia had directly indicated a fairly sharp warning by showing a yellow color and the guiding tool tip.
The statuses
The chemical products are assigned status automatically and have predefined tooltips:
Status texts
- Green - The product has little or no risk to health/safety/environment. May be ok to use with the general safety data sheet. The next person in charge should be contacted and informed.
- Yellow - Be aware that the product is dangerous! Avoid use if safe handling cannot be guaranteed. Contact the nearest person responsible for decisions / advice. General protective sheets can in some cases be used after approval.
- Red - Warning! The product is very dangerous and can pose a risk to life. Contact with the person in charge is mandatory and a risk assessment must be carried out.
Besides these three statuses, it is possible that the products get one of the following statuses:
- Exempt: A user can manually change the traffic lights to “Exempt” which is a green status. This action sidesteps automation so that status will not be updated again.
- Waiting for update: This status is used to signal to customer that data is waiting for updates due to a new SDS or that SDS data is not digitized yet.
- No SDS: This status is used to signal to customer that the product does not have an SDS and should have an SDS. (It's not marked as not needing SDS.) In case a product has this status, please check SDS status and Remarks in the Overview.
Visibility
Traffic lights - Intersolia can be seen in several places in iChemistry:
- iSafe
- My list
- Reports
- ADR
- Fire
- Plain
- Extended
- With substances
Recommended use
We have developed a "best practice" in how the function should be used. We urge you to always carry out a risk assessment for each work step that requires it. But we understand that time or circumstances can affect how comprehensive the control is on creating a safe work environment.
If a product is green, it is considered to have a low or non-existent risk to health/safety/environment. Here, it is reasonably sufficient to use the general safety data sheet and to contact and inform the person closest to the person responsible.
If a product is yellow, it is dangerous. Here, the next person in charge must be contacted before use takes place. Depending on the circumstances, it is possible to use the general safety data sheet, but not without the immediate approval of the person responsible.
If a product is red, it must absolutely not be used unless a risk assessment has been carried out. Contact with the person in charge is mandatory and the general safety data sheet can not be used, you need a safety sheet based on the information in the risk assessment.
In addition, you get a direct indication of a product's hazard without having to go to the risk assessment, and can thus prioritize better.
Criteria
Criteria for red light are e.g. deadly, extremely corrosive, CMR etc.
Criteria for yellow light is poisonous, suspected of CMR, environmentally hazardous etc.
If criteria for red or yellow are not met, the products will get a green light.
Contact your account manager if you are interested in the feature Traffic lights - Intersolia.