Tuesday 11 December 2012

Entry 010: Two months after Mid Term Review

We did not expect the outcome and the feedbacks given by our panel of judges after our mid term presentation. We had mixed feeling after receiving feedback from Mr Ting, who is the main judge. We were somewhat disappointed but at the same time we felt that we did our best for the mid term review. Mr Ting told us that we need a basis to start out with before coming up with an ideal chemical database. Example, we need to evaluate on some of the commercial database before we can create or propose a database which suits the needs of TSOs.

So on Wednesday, 7/11/2012, we had a meeting with Ms Lee to carry on with the second phase of our project. Reflecting upon the feedbacks given by the panel of judges, we should conduct an interview with the chemical controllers because they are also part of the inventory checking. Hence, Ms Lee will arrange the interview with the chemical controllers on a suitable date. Moving on, we then brainstormed on the ideal characteristics of a database system. We tried to list out as much characteristics or criteria as possible. Before the end of the meeting, we were tasked to draw a mind map about our project (example, project title in the middle followed by our objectives that will branched out from the title, and the sub-branches under each objective) and present it to Ms Lee on the next meeting. Creating of mind map was to ensure that we have a better understanding on what our project is about.

The following week on Wednesday, 14/11/2012, we had a meeting with Ms Lee again and presented our mind map to her. After looking at our mind map, she went through some of the areas that we need to add in. We added in more characteristics of an ideal database and the needs of analysis of a chemical database system. In addition, we have to find out why is there a need of a chemical database management in the first place. Thus, the needs of analysis can be part of the basis too when we want to propose or create a suitable database.

That's all for now.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Entry 009: Another Week of FYP

Mid-term review is getting closer as another week has passed.
During last monday, 1/10/12 we decided to try out more on IT stuffs (such as Excel, Access) for the ease of chemical inventory management. At the same time, we transferred the inventory which was taken down on hardcopy for labs T11B401, T11B410, W314 & W316 into a excel spread sheet. For the excel spread sheet, we re-designed the headers for the inventory forms in softcopy. This was due to a few redundant sections such as "chemical name","Hazard Class".

On Tuesday, 2/10/12, we continued our fyp by giving a kick start for the mid-term review presentation. We decided to use "Prezi" instead of "powerpoint" as it is a more innovative approach for presentation. We started by exploring the features of prezi that it can provide and decided on a theme to be used. Basically, we tried to focus on the mid-term review and include what should be included during the presentation for that day.

On Wednesday, 3/10/12, before meeting out supervisor, we went to prepare what we have done in a proper manner. During the meeting with out supervisor,we presented to her what we have done so far. First we showed her the chemical list of the various labs (T11B401,T11B410,W314 &W316) and the re-designed inventory form in soft copy. She reviewed it and gave us some advice and corrections/improvements to what we have done. Next, we presented to her the soft copy of inventory forms and the re-designed chemical inventor and finally the prezi presentation. We were told to look out for legislation under National Environment Agency(NEA) to see what are the requirements of an inventory list so that we can improve on our forms.

On Thursday, we printed out the questionnair survey forms and went to various lab to ask for the TSO's response. In addition to that, we also interviewed them on some of the problems/constraints they faced during recording. Through these response, we should be able to think of ways to ease those TSOs with the problems they are facing.

As for friday, we decided to brainstorm online and improve on our mid-term review presentation. Thats all for now~

Monday 1 October 2012

Entry 008: Our progress during semester break so far

We are doing good so far. We meet up with our supervisor on Monday 24/9/2012. Before the meeting, we did our work first. We were transferring the data from the current chemical inventory form to an excel form and tried to create a sample template using an excel spreadsheet (which includes the name of the chemical, date of inventory check and initial quantity) where a user can just type in the quantity of a specific chemical taken out and it will automatically calculate the quantity left. To find out more about the use of Microsoft Excel, we did borrow a couple of books to assist us in our findings. On the other hand, we did explore using Microsoft Access; trying to create a database of our own. We also came up with a questionnaire for the TSOs. With their response, we hope that it can help us further with our FYP. With all that being done, we proceed on with our meeting with our supervisor.

We updated her about our progress and discussed more about our FYP. We first showed her the excel part and questionnaire that we have done. There is a need to improve on the excel and for the questionnaire, we have to arrange the questions in such a way that the first question is an introductory question and it will slowly build up from the beginning. Initially our questions were not in order. We then talked about our mid term review. Examples, what to include in our mid term review, the format, etc. Before we end off, we told our supervisor that we had arranged date to visit to W318 with the TSO in-charge which is on Tuesday 25/9/2012.
The next day, on Tuesday 25//9/2012, we went to W318 to continue with our FYP and we were shocked to see that the lab was closed. So we went to W314 and asked the TSO in-charge about W318. We were informed that there are only two chemicals available in W318. The only two chemicals available are kerosene and ethanol. Since we were already in W314, we conducted a survey on the chemical inventory. We also did for W316 since these two labs have the most chemicals used. At the same time, we interviewed the TSOs on what are the problems arised while updating the inventory and what can be improved, and any other suggestions from them.

On Thursday 27/9/2012, we went back to school again. Instead of going to T11A313 to conduct another survey, we went to T11B401 as we still have some unfinished business. We presented our excel template that we have designed to Ms Florence, TSO for T11B401 and she was quite impressed with our work but there was still room for improvement. She also provided us with some suggestions on what we can do to improve on the excel template.

The following day, Friday 28/9/2012, we decided to visit T11A313, which was arranged by our supervisor earlier that week in order to compare different labs with different response from the TSOs.
During the inventory taking, we managed to find a tab classified as "Poison chemicals" which was new to us as the other labs we visited so far does not consists of poisons. In addition, we interviewed Ms Cheryl regarding the current inventory form and asked for improvements that could be done.
Thats all for now~

Saturday 22 September 2012

Entry 007: Back on track after exams and semester break has begun

With all the stressful weeks of preparations for exams are over, it's time for us to get back on our FYP. We finally had a meeting with our supervisor on Tuesday, 11/9/2012. We had a hard time progressing from where we had left-off. With the guidance from our supervisor, we are finally back on track.

Firstly, we were assigned to calculate the quantity of petroleum and flammable materials (PFM) that are available in a lab so as to ensure that the quantity is met with the safety regulation of 0.8 L/sq.m (max) subject to 250 L per lab. The two designated labs for this assignment will be a chemist lab (T11B401) and a chemical engineering lab (W318). Secondly, we have to find out how many containers have a label that comply with GHS standard.

Apart from the assignments, we were told to help out a TSO with the chemical inventory. So the next day, on Wednesday 12/9/2012, we helped Ms Florence, TSO for T11B401, with the recording of supplier(s) of various chemicals. Firstly, we put on our personal protective equipment. We then took out the chemicals on the trays in the cabinet, put them on a table and arranged them alphabetically. After which, we went down the check-list given by the TSO to ensure that the chemicals are available and we recorded down the supplier too. If there are chemicals that are not mentioned in the check-list and they are available in the lab, we had to take down the name of the chemicals and their supplier. By doing so, we realised that none of the chemicals have label that comply with the GHS standard. We did the same thing for T11B410. Finally, we arranged back the chemicals in the trays provided alphabetically and printed out stickers with alphabets for each tray (eg. a tray will have a sticker showing A -> B, another tray will sticker showing C -> E, etc) except for the chemicals in T11B410. By doing all of this, we can experience how current TSO carry out the checking and managing of chemical inventory.

The following day, on Thursday 13/9/2012, we continued to help the TSO again. Now we had to transfer the inventory check-list (hard-copy) that was given yesterday into soft-copy. After which, we had another meeting with our supervisor after lunch. We discussed with her on our progress so far and what we have done. We were told to improve on the soft-copy of the inventory, so that was another assignment. After the meeting, we went back to T11B401 to return the updated soft-copy and kept one copy to ourselves. We then discussed about coming up with a questionnaire for TSOs so that we can help to improve on the current chemical inventory management. Without forgetting, we asked Ms Florence for the PFM inventory forms so that we can calculate the total quantity of PFM available in T11B401 to find out whether the actual quantity meet with the safety regulation. Since the TSO did not know the dimensions of the lab, we did our own measurements of the lab with a measuring tape. After we did the calculations, we concluded that the actual quantity of PFM in T11B401 met with the safety regulation and it was well below 0.8 L/sq.m. Now we are left with W318.

On Friday 14/9/2012, we came back to school to continue with our FYP. We were improving on the soft-copy and preparing an excel spreadsheet for the calculations of quantity of PFM. We hope to progress more as we move forward. :)

Thursday 6 September 2012

Entry 006: Exams week progress

On 25/07/2012, we had a meeting with our supervisor once again. During this meeting, our group showed her some of the labelling samples as well as ways to transfer information from excel to words via mailmerge. The labelling sample include waste disposal & GHS standards (Refer to attachment).

However, the method we proposed to our supervisor is quite tedious in terms of preparation work which requires a handful amount of time. Since the school has made a decision on purchasing ChemWatch labelling which would probably solve this problem, our supervisor recommended us to prepare a lecture powerpoint slides on GHS.

Powerpoint lecture on GHS includes:
--> Samples of container
--> Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
--> Elements of GHS (Chemical name, hazard statement, signal word)
--> Dimensions of labels

The next meeting was on 08/08/12, which was during the revision week for EST(End-Semester Test), thus our supervisor only told us to get started with gantt chart as well as touch up on the slides that we have done.

That's all for now~

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Entry 005: Our FYP Journey Continues..

We finally had our meeting with our supervisor after some time. We started out by discussing about our progression so far.

We were given a trial account to access Chempliance's database. One account is for admin (where they can edit the chemical inventory) and the other account is for guests (where they can view the updated inventory). We tried to explore the tabs that were available as much as we can. There was not much to explore when we logged in as guests. however, when we switched over to the admin's account, we were able to explore more in depth.

One of our tasks is to evaluate on the database by different companies. We have to find out the good points and the flaws of the databases that will be given. Our evaluations will comprise of the availability of tabs, accessibility, find out whether the resources are relevant, the print out option; whether the labels are in GHS format and whether the design of the label is appropriate. Finally, we have to evaluate on the information for each product provided; MSDS, supplier, quantity, CAS number, etc.

Basically, we had a criteria of a desired database. The followings are just some of the possible criteria:
1) The labelling should be in GHS format
2) It should be user-friendly (ease of access)
3) Layout is not complicated
4) Help support
5) Low cost

Now we moved on to the labelling. Labelling is part of chemical inventory management too. There is a standard that we should comply with. It has to be in GHS standard/format. Our task is to come out with our own label. We have to design it; just a rough sketch, following the GHS format. For our task, we will try to translate the name of the chemical, hazard statement, precaution statement in Microsoft Excel into a label. We are going to try to print out a label the next time we meet our supervisor if possible.

That's all for now~

Thursday 21 June 2012

Entry 004: Summary of Week 3 holiday work

During last Friday, 15/06/2012, my group mates had a meeting with our supervisor in the morning at 10 a.m. According to last week's agreement on having the opportunity to visit one of the chemical labs of Singapore Polytechnic to have a clear look at how our school's chemicals are being labelled and stored, however one of the TSOs was on leave and we did not manage to get a good look on how the current chemical inventory is being used and stored.

After visiting the lab, we manage to absorb more infomation on how the Globally Harmonized System(GHS) works, with important factors that has to be put up on the stored containers such as product names, pictograms, signal word as well as hazards statement.

Currently, our school's chemical laboratory requires GHS labellings standards even for smaller containers that is being transferred out from a large storage. With this in mind, our supervisor offered us to attend a talk presented by one of our vendors, Chemwatch later in the day time.

This vendor, Chemwatch, as of our knowledge after the talk is able to provide services that caters to our needs such as GHS standards in terms of labelling as well as theirs Material Safety Data Sheets(MSDS). However, the school policy requires staffs/lecturers to purchase chemicals from vendors that are able to provide MSDS and to use the provided MSDS to be imprinted onto the labels. This would mean that the school has to use the MSDS provided by chemwatch but not the vendor that sells chemical itself.

The above is a summary on what happened during the Friday, 15/06/2012.
It will be continued....

Friday 8 June 2012

Entry 003: End of MST...Back to FYP

So last Tuesday we resumed our FYP meeting with our supervisor after a week long of MST. First of all, we were told to complete a questionnaire from MindWave, our vendor, in order to receive a sample database from them.

After which, we started our meeting. Basically, we went through "what is controlled chemicals". They are classified into 4 categories; hazardous substance, petroleum & flammable, poison lists and explosive. These 4 categories are controlled by different authorities.

NEA (National Environment Agency) - Hazardous
SPF (Singapore Police Force) - Explosive
HSA (Health Sciences Authority) - Poison lists
SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force) - Petroleum & Flammable

Our supervisor showed us the website of different authorities that set up the regulations so that we have a better understanding about controlled chemicals. The school have to apply a license from different authorities in order to handle and store controlled chemicals. Apart from that, we also learnt that there are 4 different chemical inventory forms used in SP and an additional form for waste disposal. The TSOs have to ensure that the forms are kept up-to-date.

We discussed about our Gantt Chart making. If possible, we will try to finish it by the end of June.

We also discussed about our upcoming meeting, which is next Friday. we will be having a lab visit where we explore the facility and try to generate some ideas on how to improve the current chemical inventory database. We will try to use softwares like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access for our database and make a comparison between the two softwares to find out which is the most appropriate for our FYP.

That's all for now.

By Nuruddin

Monday 4 June 2012

Entry 002: Week 8

For the past two week, our group had been occupied with revision for MST as well as the MST week itself too. Now that it's over, we are having our MST break where we will begin doing our FYP in earnest. We are meeting our supervisor, Ms Lee on Tue 5th June, to follow up on the next step to be done for our FYP. 

Some of things that we would like to achieve within these 3 weeks break:
- Conduct preliminary literature research
- Decide on a lab to be use and tour through it under supervisor's supervision.
- Retrieve a copy of database from vendor and analyse the elements within for evaluation at later stage.
- Brainstorm and come out with possible questionnaire for targeted TSO, to aid better understanding on the use of current method used on campus for chemical inventory and the drawbacks encountered.

That's all for now. Will update after upcoming FYP meeting.

By Swee JieBin

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Entry: 001



So we begin our FYP journey 2 weeks ago by attending the FYP toolkit, learning new stuff such as how to utilise library resources, doing proper citation, statistic for FYP as well as risk assesment procedure and critic review.

We manage to have our first meeting with our supervisor, Ms Lee Hui Bee on 3rd of May (Thur). During this first meeting, we discuss briefly what is the whole FYP about and what to expect. Ms Lee also did a minor introduction to the current system used in CLS lab for recording down and managing the chemicals inventory. Also, there many new things mention such as the local law regulations implement for storing chemicals in a compound, different ways of classifying chemicals. At the end of it, we exchanged our contacts and Ms Lee passed us a past year report to read up.

Following the 2nd session of the FYP Toolkit, we were task with doing a critic review based on a past year report. We met up with Ms Lee on the Thursday, this time round we presented our rough ideal to her on how we wish to conduct our FYP. We also let her go through our first draft of the critic review and get her comments and advice on the areas for improvement. Finally, we were tasked to read up more on subjects relating to chemical classifications and law regulations.

That's all for now~ ^^