Acquiring chemicals at RPI involves an approval process through Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), ensuring safe storage and use. RPI policies direct employees to check existing inventories, avoid stockpiling, use less hazardous alternatives when possible, and comply with regulations for hazardous materials.
The procurement process starts with a purchase requisition submitted through RPI's Procurement Department, requiring review and approval by EHS before the order is placed with an approved vendor.
The act of acquiring chemicals is an important part of waste minimization and laboratory safety. Before chemicals are ordered several factors should be considered:
- The possibility that the desired chemical(s) is already available from another lab, centralized stockroom or the RPI Chemical ReUse Program should be examined.
- Check the Research Material Management (RMM) chemical inventory system to see if a chemical is available on campus.
- The experiment(s) should be reviewed to determine the minimum quantity of the chemical(s) that is required to complete the necessary work.
- Fire codes, Institutional policies and regulatory restrictions may limit the amount of a certain chemical or group of chemicals that may be stored in a given area. This fact should be considered when ordering a quantity of a specific chemical.
- Some chemicals require special handling and storage once they have arrived at RPI. Some examples might include refrigeration, dry box, freezing or storage away from light and/or moisture. Consideration must be given to special storage and handling requirements prior to chemical arriving at RPI.
- If a chemical is deemed highly hazardous, a Standard Operating Procedure may be required before the chemical can be ordered.
- The stability of the chemical must be considered. Inherently unstable materials may have very short storage times and should be ordered on a “just in time” basis. Other materials may degrade to form explosive mixtures. These materials must be closely tracked in storage to identify signs of dangerous degradation.
- The potential waste produced by the chemical and process in question should be considered from both a health and safety and a cost perspective.
Procurement Services offers step-by-step directions on how to use the OSCAR program to order chemicals.
Once a chemical has been ordered, it will be delivered to Central Chemical Receiving in Cogswell 221. The chemical will be received using the Research Material Management (RMM) service, barcoded, and distributed to the ordering lab. Once a chemical is received by the lab, the chemical will be dated upon receipt. If a chemical is obtained from the Cogswell or Walker Stockrooms, RMM must be updated with the new location of the chemical.
If a chemical has special storage requirements, EHS will coordinate with the specific lab to ensure the chemical is stored properly upon delivery.
For information on how to maintain your chemical inventory and keep it up to date, please visit our Chemical Inventory page.
