Stanford University

Chemical Inventory Management

Federal, state, and local regulations require that Stanford keep an accurate inventory of the chemicals stored on campus. We report this chemical inventory to the governing regulatory agencies in the form of the Hazardous Materials Management Plan (HMMP). The Plan also helps users keep track of their chemicals, conduct laboratory hazard assessments, provide chemical hazard information to emergency responders, and minimize unnecessary stockpiling of chemicals.

PIs and lab or shop managers must report the hazardous materials they have on hand via ChemTracker 4.

How do labs manage their inventory?

Stanford uses the ChemTracker 4 online application to inventory all the hazardous chemicals on campus. Each lab and shop that uses chemicals must update their chemical inventories in ChemTracker 4 at least annually.

What needs be inventoried in ChemTracker 4?

All hazardous chemicals and chemical products must be inventoried by container, including:

  • Compressed gases (including liquefied gases)
  • Flammable/combustible liquids (e.g. alcohols, solvents, lubricants, and paints)
  • Flammable solids (e.g. magnesium, sodium, organo-metallics)
  • Oxidizers (e.g. concentrated mineral acids, bromates, chlorates, and permanganates)
  • Organic peroxides (e.g. hydrogen peroxide (>8%) and benzoyl peroxide)
  • Poisons not included in the above categories (e.g. biological toxins, select agent toxins, dyes, adhesives, and specimen solutions)
  • Corrosives (acids or bases that are corrosive to the skin, and other materials having a pH of ≤ 5.5 or ≥ 11.0)
  • Controlled Substances (DEA-listed drugs)

It is not necessary to inventory:

  • Retail products used for routine household-like activities (e.g. cleansers and dish soap). However, do include bleach used in laboratory processes.
  • Materials that will be expended within one or two days (e.g. working solutions)
  • Radioactive materials
  • Biohazardous materials
  • Non-hazardous buffers
  • Growth media
  • Enzyme preparations

ChemTracker 4 support

EH&S provides customer support for ChemTracker 4 at Stanford. This includes: adding new chemical owner accounts (i.e., Principal Investigators), new ChemTracker 4 user access, and providing training for new users and basic troubleshooting.

You can contact the HMMP group for the following issues:

For ChemTracker 4 user basics, check out the quick guides:

Part 1: Login/Logout, Layout, ChemInfo & MSDS (rev. 10/28/13)
Part 2: Add Inventory, Add Inventory Templates
Part 3: Search, View, Download, Saved Search Templates
Part 4: Modify, Surplus

For additional questions please contact EH&S at (650) 723-0448.

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