Chemical inventory software for schools

Department for Education guidance on storing and disposing of hazardous chemicals, written for schools and colleges in England, is clear on a few points. Hazardous chemicals should be kept securely and systematically in a locked store, with access limited to science staff. Some types should be stored separately from others. It is essential to keep an up-to-date inventory. Schools should be able to account for their chemicals at all times and should audit them regularly, with the oldest stock easily accessible and used first. In a fire, the fire service will need to see that inventory, along with information about the risks.

Good advice, but it leaves the school to work out how to do it. A register is one way of keeping that inventory true, with less reliance on one person's memory.

On Monday a teacher wants copper(II) sulfate for a Year 9 class. The technician searches, sees the two containers and where they are, takes what is needed from the older one and adjusts the quantity with the reason "used in lesson". It takes a few seconds.

On Wednesday the weekly digest flags that a bottle of hydrogen peroxide is expiring within 90 days. There is time to use it for a planned practical, or to mark it for disposal.

On Friday a new delivery comes in. Each container gets a row, a received date and a barcode label printed from the register. The chemical is already linked to its hazard data, so nobody has to type in pictograms.

The term continues without anybody needing to "update the list" as a separate job, because the list is where the work is being recorded.

In the last weeks of the summer term, the labs quieten and the store gets its annual going over. In stock check mode the technician picks a store or cabinet, walks it with a phone and confirms or corrects each item. Found items get added. Anything unlabelled gets photographed. Anything that looks wrong gets flagged.

At the end there is a signed report as a PDF and a proposed disposal list. The report goes to the head of science. The list can become a disposal request, with the collection arranged for a holiday, when the school is quiet.

Many schools keep a sheet that began life as the CLEAPSS E233 stock list, with chemicals deleted and added over the years. Others have an export from an older desktop program. The import takes XLSX or CSV, maps the columns, matches names to the database with a confidence shown, and leaves anything unmatched as free text for you to look at. You see a preview before anything is written, and you can roll back within 24 hours.

A template following the E233 column layout is included. No Hazcard text is included, and your CLEAPSS or SSERC membership carries on as before. Scottish schools can record an SSERC reference by number. The register does not replace the advice those bodies give. It holds the record of your own stock.

Every school store has its older residents. Picric acid that may have dried out. Mercury thermometers and old bottles of mercury. Sodium metal under oil. Ethers with no opened date. Bottles with a label in old-fashioned lettering or no label at all. DfE guidance specifically notes that some chemicals need specialist disposal if not stored correctly, and names 2,4-DNPH and picric acid.

The register treats those carefully. Alerts flag peroxide formers past their opened-date threshold. If you photograph an unknown bottle, the assistant can propose candidates, but below its confidence threshold, or for anything resembling picric acid, sodium metal, a peroxide former or a pre-1990 container, it recommends a chemical store assessment and blocks self-serve pricing of that line. If you suspect a bottle has become unstable, the advice is simple: leave it where it is, close the store and get help.

DfE guidance points to Secure Your Chemicals for advice on protecting stock against theft. The register supports that in a small but useful way. You know what should be there, you can see who changed the record, and a stock check turns up what is missing. Giving most colleagues the viewer role means fewer people able to alter the list, and you can give it to teachers who only need to see what is available.

The School plan is £79 a month or £790 a year, for one site with unlimited users and items. Schools pay by invoice against a purchase order, by BACS, with no card involved. Full details are on the pricing page.

If you want to try it first, Starter is free for up to 150 line items and two users. That is often enough to set up one cabinet and see how it feels.

The register does not write your risk assessments. It can draft a storage note for your competent person to read, correct and sign. It holds no Hazcards. It cannot tell you whether a practical is safe for a class. Your head of science, your employer's policies and your advisory body remain the place for those decisions.