New Institutions Implement UNH’s Chemical Management System

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

DURHAM, N.H. – Bridgewater State University and Carleton College have joined the more than 20 colleges and universities around the country using UNHCEMS®, a web-deployed chemical inventory management system developed at the University of New Hampshire.

The program, designed by UNH’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety and Research Computing Center in 2001, enables colleges and universities to manage their chemical inventory from procurement to disposal. Using a barcode-based system, UNHCEMS records and manages information about the quantity, location, and properties of chemical stock, biological agents, radioactive materials, and hazardous waste. It automates record-keeping and waste removal requests and allows campus labs to share materials.

“The decision to implement a chemical inventory management system was motivated by a desire to improve safety throughout our labs,” said Patricia Delaney, environmental health and safety officer at Bridgewater State University. “Having UNHCEMS allows our faculty to safely and efficiently track and share chemicals between lab rooms and enables the town’s fire department to view the location of dangerous chemicals to increase their safety during emergencies.”

“It’s great to have these new users,” said Phil Collins, lead software engineer for UNHCEMS. “New participation means we can continue to improve UNHCEMS to meet the future needs of all subscribers. New funding also allows the Research Computing Center to engage our talented student software developers with more UNHCEMS work.”