Scivera’s Chemical Hazard Assessments Explained

Scivera’s toxicologists recently surpassed 4,500 verified Chemical Hazard Assessments (CHA) in our chemical knowledge repository. This is a milestone we have been working toward since 2008 and one we will continue to build on in coming years. Each of these assessments goes through a rigorous process by Scivera’s team of board-certified toxicologists to ensure that users can make informed and confident chemical decisions using SciveraLENS®.

There are several chemical hazard assessment methodologies in use today. Each available approach has its own areas of emphasis and application, advantages and disadvantages. Scivera’s toxicologists use a transparent and accepted process we call GHS+ Chemical Hazard Assessment (CHA). Other examples of CHA frameworks include the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for Classification and Labeling of Chemical Substances, the US EPA’s Safer Choice Criteria, and Green Screen for Safer Chemicals.

The work we do at Scivera to complete and verify a GHS+ CHA is documented in a white paper on our website: “Scivera GHS+ Chemical Hazard Assessment Framework Overview.” The outcome of a GHS+ CHA is summarized in a very familiar traffic light symbol (i.e. green, yellow, red) that makes the results easily accessible to experts and non-experts alike. Of equal importance to the simplicity of the GHS+ output is the depth of data detail available for each CHA. Scivera’s toxicologists document, and make available in SciveraLENS, each datapoint supporting each assessment for transparency and to promote a broader understanding of the importance of CHAs in safer chemistry decision making.

Behind each green, yellow, or red traffic light CHA result, are dozens of hours of research, computer modeling, data analysis, expert judgment, and quality assurance (QA) review for data integrity. The final QA step in the process is performed by one of Scivera’s board-certified toxicologists and results in a Verified Chemical Hazard Assessment. Once a CHA is complete and verified, it receives special designation on SciveraLENS for all of our subscribers to view and use for safer chemistry decision-making.

This work requires extensive toxicological training, experience, time, and collaboration to research and assess the twenty-three human and environmental endpoints that make up GHS+. For these reasons – simplicity, data detail, and expertise – a GHS+ CHA delivers a comprehensive understanding of a chemical’s potential impact on human and environmental health.

For too long, decision-makers in the consumer products supply chain have been constrained by the limits and inherent deficiencies of restricted substance list checking and basic regulatory compliance for safer chemicals selection. These foundational efforts are critical, but leave significant gaps in a process that can allow unlisted chemicals of concern to occur in products, and hinder a company’s ability to improve product chemical safety and select safer alternatives. SciveraLENS subscribers complete these preliminary checks on ingredients, formulations, and materials, and then the GHS+ CHA delivers the deeper insight in an elegant way to enable safer chemistry innovation.

Scivera GHS+ CHAs are integrated with safer chemistry and product certification programs such as Screened/Scored Chemistry, Green Electronic Council EPEAT, Washington State Safer Metalworking Fluids program, among others.

Give us a call or send an email to info@scivera.com and we’ll schedule a web meeting, make some coffee, and share more about how we do this important work.