An eBusiness Approach to Environmental Health and Safety Management
The solution, part of Chevron's MSDS 2000 hazard communication system, is a flexible eBusiness solution for the distribution of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), providing Chevron customers with choices for paper or electronic delivery of MSDSs to accompany their product purchases. This solution minimizes the time required to distribute product safety information, and has saved Chevron a substantial amount of money in its short time of operation.
Chevron's MSDS 2000 system is based upon ProSteward, a best-of-breed Hazard Communication System that was jointly developed by AMS and Shell Oil Co., and selected by Chevron to address their global hazard communication requirements. The first phase of Chevron's MSDS 2000 implementation focused on the deployment of the ProSteward Distribution Module to automate MSDS distribution to Chevron customers. This deployment was piloted during the second half of 1999, and has been successfully rolled out to the remainder of the Chevron's North American operations during January 2000.
"Our management team directed us to provide a seamless implementation of the system with minimal impact on Chevron operations and business users," said Chevron Chemical's product compliance manager, Peter Stonebraker, who championed the MSDS 2000 project.
"AMS provided us with a rock-solid system that has allowed us to more than meet that challenge. Despite the complexities of integrating the distribution software with three distinct Chevron sales and order entry systems, we were able to replace our legacy MSDS distribution system with literally no impact to ongoing operations," Stonebraker said.
In the past, Chevron complied with OSHA regulations for MSDS distribution by mailing paper MSDSs to customers. The new system supports MSDS distribution via fax, email, and paper, and can be tailored in accordance with customer preferences. Chevron hopes to significantly reduce the number of paper MSDS distributions, instead providing electronic copies that reduce mailing costs while meeting growing customer demands for MSDSs and information for use in their environmental data management solutions. The new system also provides Chevron employees with an easy-to-use, web-based system for managing "ad hoc" MSDS distribution, in response to requests from citizens, government agencies, and other interested parties.
Each night, over 17,000 sales transactions are examined against a set of Chevron-tailored MSDS distribution rules to determine which MSDS documents must be sent out, to whom, and in what format.
According to Jayne Clifton, MSDS coordinator with Chevron Chemical Co. LLC, "We have experienced enhanced user satisfaction along with reduced MSDS distribution costs. Our customers appreciate the fact that we are able to respond to a request for an MSDS in a matter of seconds, and most prefer to receive these documents electronically. To compliment our new system, we now ask customers for an email address before a traditional mailing address." Clifton adds, "There has been a very favorable response here at Chevron to ProSteward. What once took me fifteen minutes to accomplish now takes fifteen seconds. Over the course of a week, ProSteward is saving me at least 10 hours."