Custom app for substances and safety data sheets in the workplace
The safety data sheet that counts is the one that belongs to the drum standing here. Not the most recent one in the folder, and not the one from your previous supplier. In the office that distinction is a detail; on the shop floor it is the difference between the right measures and the wrong ones.
Why the sheet must belong to the drum
A safety data sheet always has sixteen fixed sections and is drawn up in the language of the country where the substance is supplied. Suppliers are obliged to provide a current and complete sheet. An extended sheet also contains exposure scenarios for specific uses as an annex.
On the shop floor it works differently from on paper. There are drums from different suppliers, some of them older, and a folder of sheets is still just a folder. Anyone who needs to know quickly what to do after a spill doesn't go looking for the correct version; they take whatever is to hand.
Sheets also change. A sheet is updated when new information becomes available about the hazards or the risk management measures, when an authorisation is granted or refused, and when a restriction is imposed. The new version goes to everyone who has purchased the substance in the preceding twelve months, but whether it reaches the workplace is a separate matter.
And there is the duty towards downstream users. If an article contains a substance from the candidate list above 0.1% weight by weight, suppliers must provide enough information to allow safe use, at minimum the name of the substance. A consumer who asks for this must receive an answer within forty-five days. That answer has to come from data about your stock held on the floor.
How we build this
The core is the packaging in front of you. Not the item in the system, but the drum, sack or tin with its own supplier, its own batch and its own sheet.
A code on the label opens the substance with the sheet that belongs to this delivery, not a generic product page.
The version that belongs to this supplier and this delivery, in the language of the workplace, with the date clearly visible.
A different label than expected, damaged packaging or a missing sheet is recorded immediately with a photograph.
What has been found and used flows into substance management, where the obligations are monitored.
What the app does in practice
The sheet that comes with the packaging covers the whole picture. What else you need depends on your environment: a laboratory requires something different from a warehouse.
Scanning at the packaging
The label opens the substance and its associated sheet. Anyone who has to search a folder doesn't search at the moment it is needed.
The version that applies here
With the revision date and the supplier shown, so it is clear that this sheet belongs to this drum.
Works without signal
Warehouses, cold rooms and installations rarely have coverage. The sheets are available locally and work without a connection.
Looking up an exposure scenario
For an extended sheet, the scenario for this use can be found without reading through the entire annex.
Deviation with imagery
An unknown label or a missing sheet is recorded with photograph, time and location, and work can continue straight away.
Stock on the floor
What is stored where, from which supplier and in which batch. That is the foundation beneath every question about your substances.
Who we build for
Who works with this varies by environment. Four situations.
Operators
They need the sheet at the moment something happens, and a folder in the office is too far away.
Warehouse staff
They receive the deliveries and are the first to notice when a label or supplier is different from what was expected.
Laboratory technicians
They work with many substances in small quantities, often from changing suppliers, and that is exactly where the paperwork falls behind.
Prevention officers
They need to be able to show that the right information was available at the place where people work.
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Suppliers change, sheets are revised and languages differ by site. Documents, languages and fields should be configurable rather than hard-coded into the app.
Why Appfront
The latest sheet is not always the right one
A drum from a different supplier comes with a different sheet. We link the document to the delivery, not to the article.
Searching does not happen in the moment itself
When someone needs to know something quickly, they use whatever is at hand. That is why the correct sheet must appear with a single scan.
Without coverage there is no exception
In a warehouse or plant, coverage is the exception. The sheets should be stored locally.
We do not write your sheets
The content remains yours and your suppliers'. We make sure the right version is available in the right place.
Security and privacy
What is recorded on the shop floor shows which substances you use and where you source them from. That is commercially sensitive and, for certain substances, also a safety concern. We set access by role and by location, show an employee the substances at their own workstation, and log every access. What is stored locally on the device is encrypted and can be remotely wiped if a device is lost.
For this topic, the reliability of the moment is the key point. If after an incident it cannot be established which version of the sheet was available that day, the exact answer you are asked for is missing. We record which version was on which device and when, including when synchronisation happens later, and make any correction a visible correction next to the original entry. Our own approach to security is described in our information security policy.
Frequently asked questions about substances in the workplace
Because a sheet is needed at the moment something happens, at the drum and not two corridors away. What is not available within a single action does not get consulted.
Yes. Warehouses, cold rooms and installations rarely have coverage. The sheets are stored locally on the device and remain available without a connection.
Then a different sheet applies. The app links the document to the delivery, so the sheet that appears really belongs to this drum.
An annex to an extended safety data sheet, setting out the conditions for specific uses. The app shows the scenario that belongs to this use.
If a substance on that list is present above 0.1% by weight in an article, recipients must be given information to enable safe use, and a consumer who asks for it must receive it within forty-five days.
In substance management, where tonnages, versions and follow-up shipments are monitored. We describe this on our REACH software page. See also our approach to building an app.
Is the right sheet attached to the drum that is in front of you now?
Walk to a single storage point, pick any package and find the sheet that belongs to that supplier and that delivery. If that takes more than a minute, it will not be consulted during an incident. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader app development project.