Safety App Of The Week

August 17, 2015 No Comments

Below is this week’s “Safety App of the Week“.  Every Monday we publish an article that reviews and rates a new workplace safety app.  Our testing is done on Apple iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3s.  We rate each app from ♥ to ♥♥♥♥♥ (♥♥♥♥♥ is the best).  Prior app of the week articles are archived here.

GHS Mixture Calculator

Official Description  

“GHS Mixture Calculator saves you time by simplifying the process of determining hazard classifications for mixtures.

How It Works:
Build a mixture by defining the percent composition of each individual compound
Select a region (classifications for EU and US supported)
View the label on your device or export a PDF of the label to your email
Labels include: Pictograms, Signal Word, and Hazard Phrases
Only health and environmental hazards are determined; physical hazards must be based on test data

Creating a compound:
Creating individual compounds for your mixtures is a streamlined process that takes advantage of Apple’s simple user interface. With an SDS on hand, inputting a compound’s 30 hazard categories takes only a couple of minutes, and once entered, compounds may be reused for additional mixtures.

Category Analysis:
GHS Mixture Calculator generates an EU label and a US label for each mixture. In addition, a category by category analysis of each label is provided. You may use this analysis to double-check your work.

The generation of mixture classifications for the European Union (EU) are based on Guidance on the Application of the CLP Criteria: Guidance to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging (CLP) of substances and mixtures released by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) on August 25, 2009. The generation of mixture classifications for the United States are based on Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), Third Revised Edition released by the United Nations in 2009.

The app was developed by Dr. Paul Hanlon and Ben Boral. Dr. Hanlon is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and has extensive experience in hazard classification of substances and mixtures. Ben Boral is an iOS developer who previously worked in chemical synthesis at Sigma Aldrich.

GHS Mixture Calculator should only be used if there are no valid test data. If test data is available, then that data should be used to classify the mixture.“¹

 

Thumbs Up

• cost is only $2.99
• click here to watch a 2-minute overview of this app
• it’s authoritative – co-developed by a PhD in Toxicology with expertise in “Globally Harmonized System” (GHS)
• excellent video tutorials
• can email you updates
• it does everything it says it does in the above “official description”
• can export (email) completed labels in the PDF format

 

Thumbs Down

• visually boring –  no photos or graphics
• very complex to use – you probably need to be an industrial hygienist, chemist, toxicologist, CIH or CSP to be able to use this app

Overall Rating

• iPad / iPhone  –  ♥♥♥♥♥
• Android –  not available  
• Overall – if you have mixtures of chemicals at your work that need customized Hazard Communication (Haz Com GHS) or WHMIS labels – you need this app

¹ Description courtesy of  iTunes

The use of this website constitutes your acceptance of our Terms of Use

Safety Articles