MSDS software makes data accurate, accessible
By James Runde, President
ImageTrak Software Inc.
Greenville, SC
Providing on-demand access to Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for personnel safety, regulation compliance, and environmental protecting is undeniably important. However, lack of a universal form for MSDS records and numerous suppliers providing volumes of information has challenged records managers to provide a cost-effective updating, storage, and retrieval solution.
Prior to MSDS software solutions, companies re-keyed data or relied on paper-based archives. Complicating the issue for MSDS records managers is the requirement from departmental users of controlled substances to have efficient access to reliable MSDS data, while the central office is assured of accurate data with audit trail accountability.
Many employees are not familiar with document maintenance procedures, and it can be counterproductive to try and deal with paper duplication, out-of-date information, obsolescence, and new document requests.
The number of MSDS documents and the number of employees who need access to the data can be daunting and time-consuming. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s 30-year archival record-keeping requirement warrants a more sophisticated MSDS tracking and storage system. Centralized control of the information is essential. Consolidated information increases productivity by allowing centralized updating, duplication, and maintenance of MSDS records.
About three years ago, a 1,500-bed medical center in Illinois started an evaluation of MSDS software solutions. Prior to its evaluation, management at the medical center discovered MSDS information was not readily adaptable to spreadsheets, databases, or word-processing solutions. Generic solutions with over-the-counter software programs have shortcomings that prevent them from dealing practically with all the MSDS requirements. Limitations include data entry and data access.
Whether the full text is being entered or information is being adjusted to fit in a database, manual entry is required. Manual entry increases administrative time and the likelihood of operator error. When text is excerpted, reworded, or manipulated to fit into a traditional database format, the transcription process can make it useless or even harmful if the original meaning is changed.
During the evaluation process, the hospital underwent an accreditation review. "The Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO] inspects our hospital every two to three years," says the hospital’s plant service supervisor. "The commission reviews every aspect of the hospital, including the availability of MSDS records. The faster the MSDS records are located, the better."
A problem occurred for the hospital during the review inspection. "A doctor, who was working on a project, moved a lab chemical into surgery," the supervisor explains. "The lab chemical was selected by the JCAHO, and surgery did not have the MSDS report for that chemical. Eventually, the report was found, and the hospital easily passed the review. However, the incident underscored our need to find a centralized software solution for our MSDS reports, and we sped up the evaluation process."
The hospital studied five MSDS software solutions over a 12-month period. They were looking for one that centralized the information and was easy to use. MSDS ExPress was selected because of its functionality. MSDS forms can be inserted into the database digitally from CDs, diskettes, bulletin boards, the Internet, or by scanning.
MSDS ExPress enables users to enter an unlimited number of MSDS documents, tag them with custom information, and adapt the database to fit future needs. Users are capable of searching for documents by a specific compound, products by percentage of a given compound, record identification number, distributor source, product location, or by a custom tag that is entered.
Recently, hospital personnel were performing routine maintenance on its computer system, when the data files for MSDS ExPress were mistakenly erased. The hospital lost more than 1,300 MSDS records that almost 800 employees in 50 different departments needed access to. The responsibility of rebuilding the entire database fell upon the plant supervisor.
"With MSDS ExPress software, we simply scanned all the documents into the system," she says. "All work, with the exception of emergencies, was put on hold while the scanning took place. Rebuilding the entire database took only 157 hours over a 12-day period. Without MSDS ExPress, the rebuilding would have taken exponentially longer."
Scanning documents into a high-resolution image file with a flatbed scanner dramatically reduces the time for the data entry and eliminates keyboarding errors. Scans are quick and require only basic clerical skills. Two problems immediately arise with any imaged-based program. First, for clarity, a relatively high-resolution scan is required. This consumes a relatively large amount of storage space compared to text-based programs. Second, the data-compression technology needed to overcome the space problem must be reliable.
These issues can be overcome with current technology gains. The availability of high-speed Pentium-based personal computers enables fast decompression of high-resolution scans. The user is able to view a clear image of the document on the screen, print a legible document, and the entire process is invisible to the user. The advent of inexpensive high-capacity disk storage makes the issue of large files moot.
"With the MSDS ExPress database rebuilt, the time necessary to update the system is minimal," the supervisor says. "Typically, only five MSDS reports require updating a week."
The hospital prints all applicable MSDS reports for each department on a quarterly basis. This ensures employees have up-to-date information on all chemicals that are used. The long-term plan is to put MSDS ExPress on the hospital network, allowing users to access information directly from a computer terminal, thus eliminating the need for printing 50 department reports.
"The ease of entering records and the speed with which MSDS ExPress locates reports will be useful when accreditation time rolls around later this year," explains the supervisor. "We went through a mock review in early 1999 that went real well, and we expect our accreditation to go smoothly. If we have a problem similar to the one that occurred during our last audit, we will be able to locate the MSDS record in a matter of minutes."
The benefits of a centralized MSDS scanning software system are numerous. Information is scanned into the system, reducing the probability of operator error and saving time by eliminating data entry. Duplicate forms are unnecessary when the information is held at one central location, and searching for the documents is easier, faster, and increases the company’s productivity.
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