The chemical stock register

Each row is a physical container. It records the chemical, concentration, quantity and unit, container type and size, number of containers, location, received date, opened date, expiry or review date, supplier and batch, barcode or label number, owner and notes. It also has a status: in use, low, expired, awaiting disposal or disposed.

Recording by container matters most for the stock that causes trouble. A class of chemicals such as peroxide formers is judged by opened date. A bottle of diethyl ether opened last term and a sealed bottle delivered last week are different risks, and a stock list that says "diethyl ether, 2" cannot tell them apart.

The chemical on the row links to our database, so the hazard card comes with it. If you hold something we do not list, you record it as free text. The row is flagged as unlisted and creates a review task.

Sites sit under the organisation, and locations sit under a site as a tree: building, room, store, cabinet, shelf. You build the tree once, drag things into order, and from then on a row's location reads like directions. Grouping by location gives you a cupboard-level view that matches what you see when you open the door.

Moving stock is a location change with a reason, so a transfer from the prep room to a teaching lab appears in the history. For a school with a single prep room that tree may have three levels. For a pathology department or a research building it may have many more.

The table is made for people who look things up many times a day. It filters instantly on any column, sorts, and lets you choose your columns and row density. Keyboard shortcuts cover the common actions: new item, search, adjust quantity, open the drawer. You can use the arrow keys and never touch the mouse.

Saved views are where the time goes back into the day. A technician might keep "Expiring this term" and "Flammables store". A lab manager might keep "Awaiting disposal" for the monthly conversation with the waste officer. Each is one click away, and each reflects the live record.

Dark mode is included because many prep rooms and stores are dim.

Quantity changes happen in the row, without opening a separate screen. You type the new figure and pick a reason: used in lesson, spillage, transferred or found in stock check. That small step is what makes the record trustworthy later. When someone asks why the sulfuric acid is lower than last month, the answer is in the history along with who made the entry and when.

Bulk actions cover the larger jobs, such as marking everything on a condemned shelf as awaiting disposal.

Selecting a row opens a drawer on the right, so you keep your place in the table. It shows the chemical's hazard card, its storage rules, any incompatibles present in the same location and the full history of that container.

The incompatibles check goes beyond a basic stock spreadsheet: it compares the storage classes of chemicals recorded in the same location. A sheet holds names. The register knows that a location contains an oxidiser and a flammable, and says so. It uses the same storage classes described in our chemical storage guide.

Every change writes an immutable audit entry: who, when, the value before and the value after. A container can only be marked as disposed through a completed collection or a signed manual entry with a reason. Consignment notes and disposal records are kept for a minimum of three years and cannot be deleted by a user in your organisation, only archived.

That is deliberate. Department for Education guidance says schools and colleges need to be able to account for their chemicals and other hazardous materials at all times. The value of a register at that moment comes from the fact that nobody could have tidied it the night before.

Not everyone needs to edit stock. An owner or admin sets the organisation up. A technician edits stock. A viewer can read, which suits a head of science or a health and safety lead. An approver signs off disposal requests above a value you set, and a finance user deals with invoices and the plan. Colleagues are invited by email.

When a row is flagged as awaiting disposal it stays visible until something happens to it. An alert fires if it has been waiting for over 60 days. From there you can include it in a disposal request, and the row closes when the signed documents come back.

Starter allows one site, two users and 150 line items, and does not include exports. That is enough for a small store or for trying the register properly. School and above have no limit on users or items. If you reach a limit you will see a clear message explaining what has happened and what your options are. The pricing page has the detail.