UW employees who use chemicals or chemical-containing products at any UW owned or leased facility are required to maintain chemical inventories in MyChem, the UW’s chemical tracking system.
Chemical inventories are linked to a principal investigator (PI) or supervisor, other area contacts, and contain Safety Data Sheets (SDSs). They help the University comply with federal, state and local hazardous material regulations, including Hazardous Material Storage and Use Permits, Hazard Communication, Community Right-To-Know and the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard. MyChem can also be used to:
Visit the MyChem website and enter your UW NetID and password.
Click the Person menu link:
Go to the MyChem User's Guide on the MyChem website. You can also email mychem@uw.edu or call 206.616.4046. Classroom computer training is available to groups upon request. Please call 206.543.7201 to request classroom training.
Yes, to access safety data sheets, you must log into MyChem with your UWNetID.
Once a chemical is added to the inventory, you can flag it as surplus and available in the chemical exchange. Search the chemical exchange to find chemicals you need and email the owner to make arrangements to transfer it.
Use the inventory worksheet in the MyChem Guide (accessible in MyChem) to gather information, including chemical name, manufacturer, container type, quantity and physical state.
When adding chemicals to the inventory, begin by searching the database to see if the chemical is already in the MyChem SDS library. If you find the chemical in the search results, select it and finish the entry process. If don’t find the chemical in the search results, click on Chemical Not Found and finish the entry process. If the chemical is not found, please attach an electronic copy of the vendor’s SDS in the entry process.
Review and update inventories and contacts annually and whenever there are significant changes to the inventory.
When adding the chemical to your inventory, select the Browse button to locate the SDS file on your computer and select it. The SDS file is now attached to your chemical inventory and a copy was emailed to EH&S for permanent replacement in the SDS library.
EH&S has a process to flag particularly hazardous substances (PHS) in MyChem. When you view your chemical inventory look for the REG (regulatory) column. You'll find that PHS chemicals are flagged with a “P”. You may also see chemicals flagged with an “E” for an EH&S reportable chemical. EH&S reports these chemicals annually in a Tier II report to the Department of Ecology per the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Certain chemicals may be flagged with a “B” and that means they are both particularly hazardous and reportable by EH&S.
Review the criteria used by EH&S to designate a chemical as a PHS and learn more about the requirements for working with particularly hazardous substances.
Inventory owners and area contacts can generate chemical waste disposal requests in MyChem. You can:
1. From the inventory page, select the Waste Collection button. You'll see your inventory appear.
2. If the items for disposal are in your chemical inventory, select them using the checkboxes and then Save List. The next page is a list of the chemicals you want collected. Edit the list as needed. You can remove or add additional chemical waste before submitting the final list to EH&S via the Submit Report to EH&S button.
3. If the items are not in your inventory or not yet on your waste list, use the Add New Waste Chemical button to make additions to the list of waste. You will go through the process of searching for each chemical in the container, indicating a percentage of each. When all chemicals in the container add up to 100%, you will be asked for container information including type and volume/weight information. Save to get the new waste container added to your list. The next page displays the list of waste that you want collected. Edit and add to the list before submitting the report to EH&S.
3. The Add Comment button allows you to add a note about the specific location of the waste or access to the area. Do this step before submitting the report to EH&S.
4. Once a report has been submitted, use the View Past Reports button to view it. If the waste is consistently generated, consider naming the report, so you easily reuse it for future waste collection requests. Use the Recreate List button to call-up a previously submitted waste list for edits and re-submission.
