Do you ever wonder if you are utilizing your FOUNDATION SDS Management System to its fullest potential? Perhaps there is a way to do your job easier without having to discuss the “one thing” you need to accomplish with multiple people. You may have taken over responsibility from someone else and don’t know where to start to ensure the SDSs in FOUNDATION are up to date.
If so, you are not alone. In a busy world of multi-tasking a myriad of responsibilities, we get consumed with the things we must complete quickly. Often, we cannot spend a great deal of time focusing on the details of anything that is not deemed to be dire.
Our team wants to ensure we provide the knowledge and tools necessary so you can make the most of your investment in FOUNDATION. Therefore, we have identified five features within FOUNDATION that are often overlooked but could be exactly what you need to complete the tasks at hand.
1. Running a Comprehensive List of Materials
Need a list of all the raw materials in FOUNDATION? This can be accomplished directly through the system in the REGULATORY tab under REPORTS. There, you will see a dashboard of preloaded reports available to every FOUNDATION admin user. Click on the report that you would like to see to immediately generate the data requested. In addition, all available reports will provide a brief description of the information it contains.
A complete product list is one of the preloaded reports in your system. We refer to it as the Product Quantity List (also called a PQL). This will provide a list of the SDSs on file for your facility as well as the inventory associated with each product. Additionally, when provided by your organization, reports will include Storage Locations for materials.
Need to update something? If you run the PQL report and notice the list contains multiple items that are no longer on site or the inventory requires updating, you may add any new or revised information on this list and return it back to us. We will update your system with the correct information. Please be sure to highlight any changes being made so that we will be aware of what specifically must be revised. Contact the Chemical Management Department for any additional information or if you would like us to walk you through this process.
2. Viewable Archives
Did you know you can find all materials that have been archived in our system and are listed as no longer on site? If you need to access any of these SDSs, simply click on the ADVANCED SEARCH tab, look for the STATUS drop-down bar and select INACTIVE.
If you see an SDS that needs to be reactivated, click on the gear symbol next to the SDS number in the table. You will see a pop up box with the SDS information and several tabs to choose from. Select the ACTION tab and then click the ACTIVATE button to make this SDS active again in your system.
3. Preferences
One of the customizable features that may not get utilized as much as it should is the ability to change how you search and find chemicals or SDSs. The PREFERENCES tab often gets overlooked or, in other cases, someone might just be afraid to try it out thinking they may mess something up.
Preferences are more user-friendly than they may appear at first glance. This feature can be accessed by going to the PREFERENCES tab at the top of FOUNDATION. You can easily add columns and search criteria in your ADVANCED SEARCH screen.
Do you need to find all the materials that are Flammable Aerosols Category 1 in your facility, or do you need to know which materials are listed as pure chemicals on site? You can customize all of these options within your search preferences and can easily add or delete search fields and columns at any time.
4. Cross References
How do you identify the raw materials at your facility? Many clients distinguish their goods with some type of unique identifier. It could be a purchase number, an assigned internal SDS number, or even just a common name.
If you have a distinguishing identifier that would make finding an SDS easier for anyone in your facility, this piece of information can be added at no charge using the cross-reference field. The cross-reference field may be used for alpha and numeric information and can be assigned to any or all the Raw Materials listed in your system.
If this is a field you would be interested in adding or you would like to confirm if you are utilizing this field, please contact the Chemical Management Department for more information.
5. Review Pending List & Discontinued
This may be one of the least understood features in FOUNDATION. As contracted, Cornerstone EHS contacts the Manufacturers listed in FOUNDATION on a biennial basis to determine if anything has been updated on an SDS. Occasionally, through this process, the Chemical Management Department will come across SDSs that cannot be updated. We may be given information that the materials are no longer made, so the Manufacturer cannot provide a new SDS.
If you are in FOUDNATION in either the SIMPLE or ADVANCED SEARCH screen, there is a legend right above the table of SDSs in your FOUNDATION search. This legend will correspond with the icons you may have noticed in the first column of this SDS table. If you see one of these icons, it is an alert that there is something you need to be aware of or to review. We will indicate a material has been discontinued according to the Manufacturer by the “X” icon. You will also notice some materials may have a “?” icon indicating that when attempting to get a current SDS, the Manufacturer stopped us and told us that there was either additional information that we need to give to them in order to get a newer SDS, or that they will not provide us a newer SDS. If you see the “?” symbol in your search and hover over this icon it will give you additional details or information needed for us to get the correct SDS.
Of course, you may also run a Review Pending report in your REGULATORY REPORTS tab to obtain a comprehensive list of all items with this designation in your system. This will include the notes stating what we will need in order to get the most current SDS.
Would you like more information or training?
There are many additional features that you may want to learn more about. Feel free to contact the Chemical Management Department if you would like to attend one of our FOUNDATION Training Webinars that are regularly scheduled throughout each month.
Katy Mathison has been with Cornerstone since 2014 and is a member of the Chemical Management Department. One of her main responsibilities consists of sourcing and updating current Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for a wide array of products in our Foundation SDS Management and Chemical Inventory System. As Coordinator, Chemical Data Management, her efforts help ensure our customers have the latest documents available.