Tools

This section gives a short overview of the tools needed or helpful to fulfill your obligations under REACH and CLP.

Navigator

ECHA's online search tool Navigator is an interactive tool that helps manufacturers, importers, downstream users, distributors of chemical substances and producers or importers of articles to work out their obligations under REACH. You find the English version here.

REACH-IT

REACH-IT is the main tool for your company to submit your data to ECHA. It provides an online platform to submit data and dossiers on chemical substances. REACH-IT is part of ECHA’s website where extensive information on REACH-IT is provided. Before submitting data to ECHA you must sign-up and create an account for your company in REACH-IT. This is the starting point for any data submission to ECHA. Once signed up, REACH-IT can be used to submit registration dossiers (including joint submissions), PPORD notifications, inquiries, and requests for a registration number for an already notified substance.

IUCLID 5

IUCLID5 (International Uniform ChemicaL Information Database) is the essential tool to capture and store, submit, and exchange data on chemical substances stored according the format of the OECD. Dossiers submitted to ECHA have to be in IUCLID5 format (registration dossiers, PPORD notifications, proposals for harmonized classification and labeling, notification of SVHC in articles, notifications by downstream users, Annex XV dossiers). It can be downloaded free of charge from the IUCLID5 website.

EUSES

EUSES (European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances) is a decision-support instrument which enables government authorities, research institutes and chemical companies to carry out rapid and efficient assessments of the general risks posed by chemical substances. EUSES is intended mainly for initial and refined risk assessments rather than for comprehensive assessments and is used for the environmental exposure estimation.
It can be downloaded free of charge here. Some information is also given in ECHA’s Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment (chapter R.16.7.1).

CHESAR

CHESAR (Chemical Safety Assessment and Reporting Tool) help registrants to perform a Chemical Safety Assessment. A new dedicated release module (based on the present guidance) and the EUSES model are implemented in CHESAR in order to estimate predicted environmental concentrations and human daily intake of a substance via the environment, both at the local and regional scale. The tool can be downloaded free of charge from ECHA's CHESAR website.

ECETOC TRA

The ECETOC's targeted risk assessment (TRA) is a tool providing a tiered (step by step) approach for calculating the exposure to and risks from chemicals and covers exposure to consumers, workers and the environment. The tool has been developed by ECETOC (European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals), an industry-financed scientific forum for chemical companies, and can be downloaded free of charge here.
Remark: If you use this tool, be aware that it uses assessment factors (AF) different from the assessment factors in the relevant ECHA guidance. So, you may have to correct the AF.

OECD (Q)SAR Application Toolbox

(Q)SAR Application Toolbox is a software application intended to be used by governments, the chemical industry and other stakeholders to fill gaps in toxicity and ecotoxicity data needed for assessing the hazards of chemicals. With this Toolbox, a user can fill data gaps by read-across and trend analysis, group chemicals into categories and gain access to a library of (Q)SAR models. It can be downloaded free of charge from the OECD website.

REACH inventory tool

The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) and the FPS Economy, SMEs, self-employed and Energy Belgium have developed an inventory tool. It allows companies to collect all relevant information on the chemical substances and mixtures they use, buy, sell, formulate, import or manufacture, and establish inventory of all substances present in the companies. This inventory can be used a start point and backup for all REACH and CLP related activities.

The tool can be downloaded free of charge from the website of the FPS Economy, SMEs, self-employed and Energy Belgium.

EMKG – EXPO - Tool

The EMKG-EXPO-TOOL is part of the “Easy-to-use workplace control scheme for hazardous substances” (EMKG “Einfaches Maßnahmenkonzept für Gefahrstoffe”) of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). Within the context of REACH, this tool can be used for the compilation of a Chemical Safety Report or Chemical Safety Assessment. Tier 1 exposure estimates for the workplace can be compared with the toxicological reference values.

Stoffenmanager

The “Stoffenmanager” (Dutch for “substance manager”) tool was originally a web-based risk prioritizing tool for small and medium sized enterprises. This quantitative exposure model has been accepted as method to evaluate dangerous substances at the workplace by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate. It includes a quantitative model for estimating inhalation exposure to vapours, aerosols of low volatility liquids, and inhalable dusts. It considers both inhalative and dermal exposure and helps in the selection of measures for exposure reduction.

Advanced REACH Tool (ART)

The Advanced REACH Tool provides a higher tier exposure assessment tool for modelling worker exposure to chemicals if tier 1 exposure calculation was unable to show safe use. The Advanced REACH Tool (ART) incorporates a mechanistic model of inhalation exposure and a statistical facility to update the estimates with the user’s own data. ART is currently only calibrated to assess exposure to inhalable dust, vapours, and mists.

RISKOFDERM

The RISKOFDERM exposure model is the result of a European 5^th framework programme project focused solely on dermal exposures in industrial and professional settings. On the basis of measured data, approaches were developed to assess dermal exposure for six different so-called Dermal Exposure Operation units (DEO units). It assesses potential dermal exposure, i.e. exposure on the skin and on the layers (of clothing or e.g. gloves) covering the skin. An Excel spreadsheet version and a guidance document for the model can be downloaded from the TNO website.

ConsExpo

ConsExpo is a mathematical model for the exposure assessment of compounds in consumer products. The models has been developed within RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and Environment) to be able to estimate and assess the exposure to substances from consumer products and the uptake of these by humans via the inhalatory, oral or dermal route. It can also be used for the assessment of occupational exposure, e.g. inhalation exposure from application and spraying of volatile liquids. A new model has been developed for the estimation of substances from solid materials. Such a method is lacking in the current version of ConsExpo. At present, this “emission tool” is implemented in a separate computer program.

REACH Scaling Tools

Scaling in the context of REACH means: use of simple mathematics to check, whether chemicals are used in a safe way. Even in case if certain conditions of use deviate from the exposure scenario. In specific cases, scaling offers downstream users the opportunity to demonstrate coverage by an exposure scenario for their individual conditions of use. The report ”Entwicklung einer Handlungsanleitung zur Bestimmung der sicheren Verwendungsbedingungen von Chemikalien durch Scaling; Prof. Dr. Dirk Bunke, Rita Groß, Steffen Vogel; Öko-Institut e.V., Freiburg, im Auftrag des Umweltbundesamtes, Download under http://www.uba.de/uba-info-medien/4224.html) provides guidance on scaling related to environmental exposure assessment. Scaling is also possible related to workers and consumer exposure.

ES Modifier

The ES-modifier is a MS Excel-based IT-tool, being developed mainly for Downstream Users needing to check and modify the REACH Exposure Scenario received from their suppliers (extended Safety Data Sheet). The facilities include development of exposure scenarios for mixtures of substances. The tool can assist in documenting that the conditions of use as a minimum are those recommended by the supplier.