Alleviate the headaches of REACH compliance
REACH Delivery International launches SDS Document Delivery System
REACH Delivery International, part of the Mpower1 Group in the UK, has announced a new service that will enable chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors and downstream users to guarantee the secure delivery and receipt of Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and associated documentation when they ship chemical substances to customers within Europe, which is a requirement of EU REACH legislation.
The service will be launched on 10 January 2011.
To comply with REACH, vendors are now responsible for ensuring the delivery of SDS and associated documentation to their customers and for keeping these documents up-to-date. Suppliers will no longer be able simply to publish these documents on a website or in a catalogue for customers to access. Sending the latest SDS in the post or by email will also be inadequate as companies will not be able to guarantee delivery, nor record proof of delivery without additional time, effort and cost, said Hemel Hempstead-based REACH Delivery International.
In addition, traditional delivery methods will not provide any automated process to accommodate the REACH regulations when supplying SDS updates to customers. The company adds that developing a proprietary document delivery system would be unworkable in a global industry.
Malcolm Carroll, director at REACH Delivery International, said: ‘The first phase of REACH registration is finalised this month and manufacturers and importers of chemicals will need to consider how they tackle their requirements around the delivery and receipt of Safety Data Sheets.’
Jo Lloyd, director at REACH Ready, added: ‘The New Year will see a flurry of revised SDSs enter the supply chain and keeping track of what has been sent to which customer and ensuring ‘delivery’ will bring its own headaches – regulators have been quite clear that suppliers are now responsible for delivering revised SDSs to their customers.’
She added: ‘As part of our Matchmaker service, REACHReady is keen to promote tools that help facilitate REACH and CLP compliance and welcomes this new management product from REACH Delivery International, a REACHReady Approved Supplier.’
REACH Delivery is an online service, which enables the electronic delivery, receipt, control, update, audit and tracking of Safety Data Sheets in line with the REACH regulations. The service is free of charge, with an optional ‘pay as you use’ area for users wanting to send documents externally.
The company says the service requires no lengthy implementation or training. A simple set up and registration process will enable users to send the latest versions of SDS to their customers securely and receive proof of delivery and receipt as soon as their customers access the documents. An audit trail of all activities related to their documents is also provided to demonstrate compliance.
The system notifies them immediately of any changes to any information in their SDS, with an updated version replacing the previous one so only the very latest version is in use. All SDS will be held securely on a central repository, accessible only by the document owner or a recipient to whom they have sent the document.
