Understanding the Importance of Chemical Inventory Management

Most business owners have to deal with chemicals in some capacity, as they’re essential to overall operations. Chemicals can be anything from paints and disinfectants to cleaning chemicals and fuels.

All chemicals need to be accounted for, no matter how you use them. If you don’t have good chemical inventory management in place, it’s time to take steps to fine-tune your system.

Keep reading this guide to learn everything you need to know about the importance of chemical inventory management.

Improves Employee Safety

Even though not every chemical is hazardous, many are considered harmful substances that can cause real health issues. Chemicals can cause explosions, fires, and adverse health effects like lung irritation, burns, and rashes, and ultimately increase cancer risks.

If you don’t have accurate knowledge of what’s in your chemical inventory, you can’t manage safety risks effectively.

A proper chemical management system like KHA Online-SDS Management makes SDS management easy for everyone to enter information and keep up to date with any changes.

Saves You Money

Having a good chemical inventory management system in place can truly impact your business’s bottom line.

Not having a system makes it easy to lose track of inventory, making it common to re-order items you don’t actually need. This causes unnecessary spending, which will impact your cash flow over time.

In addition, storing excess chemical inventory costs more money since you’ll need extra storage space.

Don’t forget excess inventory causes products to go to waste, which leads to potential loss for your business. Overall, tightening up your inventory allows you to make better-informed decisions about chemicals in the future.

Reduces Hazardous Waste and Increases Sustainability

A good inventory management system helps to minimize waste and makes you more sustainable as a company.

Keep in mind that many chemicals are perishable and have strict expiration dates. This means certain chemicals become unusable quickly and can also become unstable. Good inventory means you’re aware of these dates so you can discard the chemical as soon as possible.

In most cases, businesses have to pay for hazardous waste disposal, so excess waste not only costs money but also impacts the environment.

An organized system allows you to cut back on waste and improve your company’s carbon footprint. You can share this with stakeholders and customers and continue to find ways to improve sustainability efforts.

Ensures Compliance

Finally, tracking chemical inventory is required, and not meeting minimum safety standards can result in fines for every violation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires proper labeling and storage of all chemicals.

Employees need to be trained to deal with any chemical hazards they may encounter. They also need to understand how to access the safety data sheets for each chemical.

Personal protective equipment is also necessary and having a good system leads you to stay in compliance.