How to do an annual chemical stock check

Before you open the store

Print the current register, sorted by location. Agree a time when the store can be closed to lessons or routine work. Have a second person if you can. It is quicker, and it is a safety measure as well.

You need very little kit: the protective equipment your risk assessment requires, a pen, labels for new dates and a phone for pictures. Bring no tools for opening anything.

Remind everyone of the one rule that overrides the checklist. The stock check is about looking. You will not open any container to examine the contents. Where a container looks unstable, you stop checking that shelf, leave it where it is and treat it as a finding.

At the door: check the store itself

Before you look at any bottle, look at the room. Note whether the lock works and who holds keys. The guidance expects a locked store with access restricted to the minimum number of people. Check the ventilation runs and the flammables cabinet closes properly. Look for corroded shelving, as acid fumes often show there first. See that spill equipment is present and in date.

Look also for anything that has crept in, such as boxes of equipment blocking a route out, or a domestic fridge holding flammable stock. Domestic fridges have ignition sources inside, so that is a finding in its own right.

At the shelf: what to check on every bottle

Work from the top shelf down and from left to right, and finish each shelf before moving on. For each container, without unnecessary handling, go through these checks.

Does it match the list? Mark found, wrong location, wrong quantity or not on the list. Items that are missing get a separate note.

Can you read the label? The name, hazard information and any dates need to be legible. Replace a failing label on a sound bottle while you can still read it. If you cannot read it, the bottle is an unknown and goes on the findings list.

How old is it? Compare the received and opened dates with any review date. Old-style hazard symbols on the label suggest considerable age even where no date is shown.

Is the container sound? Look for cracks, swelling, a brittle or corroded cap, leakage and staining on the shelf underneath.

Has the contents changed? You can only judge what is visible. Note colour changes, layers, solids in a liquid or a level that has dropped when nobody has used it.

Is it next to something it should not be? Check its storage class against its neighbours.

Findings that mean stop

Some findings end the check for that shelf. For these, do not touch, tidy or investigate.

Tell the person responsible the same day. Mark the shelf or door so that colleagues do not walk in during the wait. These items do not go on an ordinary disposal list, as they are handled under separate, specialist arrangements.

Note what we have left out. There is no test to run and no stabilising step to take. Peroxide strips, re-wetting and topping up oil are decisions for a specialist on site, and they are not part of a stock check.

Findings that can wait, but not for long

A second group of findings goes on the list for routine action. Examples include faded but readable labels, incorrect locations, sound bottles from discontinued practicals and chemicals past a supplier's date with no sign of change. Fix what can be fixed safely on the day, such as a new label or a corrected location. Move sound bottles only where your risk assessment allows, using a bottle carrier, and never move anything from the stop list.

Check the fridge and freezer with the same care. Expired reagents gather at the back, particularly in hospital labs and university groups. Check whether a lab's chemical waste has mixed with clinical stock, as HTM 07-01 requires those streams to be kept apart.

At the desk: turn the walk into decisions

Update the register on the same day while your memory is fresh. Then go through it line by line with your head of science or lab manager, and give every line one of three statuses.

Keep. It is used, or it will be, and its condition is sound.

Surplus. It is sound but no longer needed. See if another department can use it before it counts as waste. A neighbouring school in the same trust may want it.

Dispose. It is out of date, no longer needed or in poor condition. These lines are your disposal list.

Check your orders against the list at the same time. There is little sense buying a fresh bottle in July when an unopened one is on the shelf. The guidance makes this point and advises rotating stock so that the oldest is used first.

Building the disposal list

Write the list so that somebody who has never seen your store can price and plan from it. For each line, give the name, CAS number, container size and count, amount remaining, location, condition and whether it is labelled. Group by storage class where you can. Add your access constraints too.

Once a bottle has been marked for disposal, it is waste. You must classify it and keep it apart from your working stock until collection. A marked section of the locked store usually works. Do not combine or decant anything, and do not pour anything away to reduce the list.

Signing it off

Finish with a short signed report: the date, who carried out the check, what was found, what is on the disposal list, what was escalated and who owns each action. Note any change that affects your COSHH assessments, such as a new chemical or a storage change. Keep the report with the register, so next year's check can begin by reading what you said you would do.

A collection planned around this list each year is what we mean by an annual stock check collection. It keeps the store small and stops old stock building up into next decade's clearance.