
Chemical Risk Management – It’s More Than WHMIS!
Rillea’s COO, Rob Hallsworth, has a wealth of experience in safety and management systems, built over a 30 year career with leaders in safety like ExxonMobil. Rob knows that for safety systems to work and be sustainable, they must be simple, clear and accessible by all 24/7. Rob often refers to his “2 AM Saturday morning test”. Can an employee understand what they have to do at 2 AM Saturday morning when there is no support staff to consult?
Rob will speak about chemical safety management and strategies to proactively manage chemicals in the same way you manage other hazards.
SDS RiskAssist V3.0 Released!
Rillea Technologies released V3.0 of SDS RiskAssist. New subscription options provide the following benefits to clients:
- Auto-tags – administrators can develop custom directives that can be assigned to chemicals, based on hazards, at the click of a mouse. This enables clients to get valuable and consistent chemical handling directives in the hands of workers in seconds! It also ensures that editors and safety support staff can build on consistent directives from safety managers.
- Parent-Child Locations – Effective management systems break work down into chunks, which can then be completed by different members of a team. The multi-level location functionality allows administrators to break chemicals into locations and sub-locations according to where they are used, making inventory checks and safe-handling directives specific to the location. Responsibility for the work can be shared, while still allowing safety manager oversight.
- Single Sign On (SSO) – SSO allows workers who are authenticated on the company platform to access SDS RiskAssist without having to login with a separate password. SSO also enables tracking of SDS RiskAssist platform visits by user. This can help managers know if employees are refreshing their knowledge as required.
- 1-page summaries in both official languages – Whether the safety data sheet is in French or English, clients who subscribe to this option can have 1-page summaries in both official languages!
- Optional chemical lists – while previous versions of SDS RiskAssist identified chemical ingredients from Ontario’s Regulations 490 and 833, users now have the option to add other chemical lists to their SDS RiskAssist platform – these could be environmental (NPRI), industry specific (Red List), other jurisdictions or customized for their own organization.

We Won Again! Thanks for Your Vote!
Rillea Technologies is thrilled to announce that our SDS RiskAssist web app has won a 2019 Readers’ Choice Award from Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine!
Thanks to all those who took the time to vote for us. We know that one of the biggest obstacles to responsible chemicals consumption and management is the lack of tools for managers to quickly understand all their chemical hazards and assess/mitigate their risks. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about SDS RiskAssist! Together we can dramatically reduce occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals and help protect our families, neighbours and friends from the tragedy of occupational disease.
Case Study – Sustainable Chemicals Oversight in Toronto Dental Practice
Hazardous chemicals in a dental practice? You bet!
Though dental offices use relatively small quantities of chemicals that pose very little risk to patients, many can be hazardous to the health of the dentists, hygienists and assistants. Think about nitrous oxide, models that are made from silica-based products, etching gels, mercury based amalgams as examples.
When we first met with Unite Here Wellness and Dental Centre, their safety team was expending huge numbers of hours trying to maintain, review and train employees on WHMIS. See how they used SDS RiskAssist to develop sustainable chemicals oversight and reduce the time needed to maintain the system to a fraction of what it was AND with prioritized knowledge for better training!
How to Keep Your Cleaning Staff Safe from Chemical Exposure & Other Hazards
Every workplace requires cleaning and whether you contract your cleaning staff or have in-house cleaners, the following publication from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, is a valuable resource to help keep them safe!
“The European cleaning and facility services industry employs over 4 million people across 277,000 companies, many of them SMEs. The nature of cleaning work means that most – if not all – cleaners are in close contact with dangerous substances every day. What steps can cleaning firms take to reduce workers’ risk of exposure?”
RilleaTech in the News!
- SDS RiskAssist wins 2019 Readers’ Choice Award from COS Magazine,
August 19th, 2019 - Federal Funding for Women Entrepreneurs in Kingston,Queen’s Gazette, August 20th, 2019
- Government Announces Slew of Women Eintrepreneurship Investments Ahead of Election, Betakit, August 23rd, 2019
Let’s keep the conversation going!
Follow any or all of our social media feeds (see links below) to hear news about Rillea Technologies or SDS RiskAssist. We’d love to answer any questions you may have and support your journey in responsible chemical management.
__ Lisa & Rob, Rillea Technologies