CHEMXCHANGE

"Development of a cost effective system for exchanging information and managing risks of chemicals for the construction industry, addressing new challenges related to European chemical legislation"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'This proposal addresses the great challenge faced by the SMEs in the construction sector of complying with today’s obligations and regulatory requirements regarding exchange of information on hazardous chemicals between various actors in the sector. The European construction sector, being the largest industrial sector highly dominated by small enterprises, is a major downstream user of chemicals and chemical-containing articles, including hazardous and particularly high-risk substances. Chemical safety at the working place represents a significant management burden for the construction companies and SMEs in particular, lacking knowledge, resources and systems for proper required chemical management. The most significant problem identified by the sector itself, is the lack of proper high-quality chemical risk information on the building sites, and low quality of safety data sheets (SDS) in particular. SDS is the major tool for hazard communication down the chemical supply chain to the end users and urgently needed to carry out legally required chemical risk assessment and risk reduction measures. The proposed ChemXchange chemical information exchange system seeks to fulfil the acute needs of the European construction sector regarding legal compliance particularly relevant due to the newly introduced European chemical legislation REACH, including challenges connected with chemical risk assessment, chemical communication up- and down the supply chain as well as and chemical management. Through a common sector-driven electronical chemical information system, the project seeks to solve all practical and judicial problems related to regulatory compliance as well as offering the sector a complete adapted business solution for total quality chemical management which does not exist today. Particular development focus will be to ease the information flow between the various actors, reduce the management burden and to include various needed information and management tool'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A consortium of construction sector companies has advanced an online portal to simplify and streamline compliance with hazardous chemicals legislation in Europe.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Recent EU legislation (namely the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)) has placed a management burden on construction companies. There is a need for effective communication of chemical risk information between companies and at building sites.

To address this, the EU-funded http://www.chemxchange.eu (CHEMXCHANGE) project developed a common online chemical information system for construction companies. The system offers a complete solution for improved information flow, streamlined management and compliance with REACH legislation.

CHEMXCHANGE first investigated the regulations and user needs for the envisioned system, through literature reviews, surveys and questionnaires. Researchers placed a particular focus on the REACH legislation.

Based on this information, the system specifications and architecture were designed and the software was developed. This included a platform for importing safety data sheets (SDSs) data from various chemical suppliers as well as producing SDSs.

Other tools available in the CHEMXCHANGE system include translation of SDSs, tools for exchange of information, an SDS database and a quality assurance system. Comprehensive user testing provided positive feedback on the CHEMXCHANGE system.

The software system, now called ProductXchange, is online and available in several European countries and in six languages. The system will continue to be rolled out to other European countries over time.