Frequently Asked Questions about Harmoneus
My products are not included in Approved Lists. Can Harmoneus tell me how to classify and label them in accordance with ADR, GHS, CHIP and REACH?
Yes. Harmoneus will base its recommendations for classification and labelling for health and environmental hazards on the properties of your products or on the properties of the ingredients in them.
The ingredients I use are included in Approved Lists. Why do I need Harmoneus?
Harmoneus will do the complicated arithmetic required to classify for health and environmental hazards by the “conventional method”. Some of the rules for applying the conventional method can be confusing. For example, it is easy to misunderstand the rules in GHS about substances that are hazardous to the aquatic environment and the rules in CHIP for dealing with ingredients that are acutely toxic by different routes of exposure. Once you do understand them it is tricky to get the arithmetic right. Harmoneus applies the rules reliably. If you use mixtures of mixtures, doing the arithmetic can be very tiresome without the help of a system like Harmoneus.
The regulations only allow use of the conventional method for health and environmental hazards for classification and labelling for supply. You still need to consider all the issues relating to fire and explosion hazards, labelling for transport, choosing transport emergency cards, and drawing up safety data sheets. Harmoneus helps you with all of these.
Can I print labels directly from Harmoneus?
Harmoneus tells you what the contents of labels should be but does not provide tools for designing and formatting labels. An export option allows you to write the label information to the database used by your label printing software. Depending on your requirements activation of this option may be free of charge or low cost.
I do not use a safety data sheet management system. Can I write safety data sheets directly from Harmoneus?
If you do not need a dedicated safety data sheet management system for your business, Harmoneus Professional is ideal for you. Harmoneus Professional generates draft contents for datasheets in sixteen section safety data sheet format and the html and text files that it writes are compatible with standard editors such as Microsoft Word.
Can I transfer advice from Harmoneus easily into my existing safety data sheet management system?
A direct link from Harmoneus to SafeTEXT sets up draft safety data sheets automatically. If you use a different safety data sheet management system contact us about options for exporting output from Harmoneus to it.
Do you supply the European Approved Lists in electronic form with Harmoneus?
The lists are not part of Harmoneus but Harmoneus reads export files from CSE and CSE Lite, the electronic versions of the lists supplied by the National Chemical Emergency Centre, AEA Technology plc.
Can Harmoneus tell me what phrases to use for labels in languages other than English.
Yes, the professional version of Harmoneus gives you translations into all the languages covered by SafeTEXT. If you need translation into other languages, contact us.
A lot of my products are very similar to each other. Do I have to give the same answers to the same questions every time I use Harmoneus?
No. You can set up templates so that you only have to answer questions about properties that differ between your products.
My product is not listed specifically in the “Orange Book”. Can Harmoneus tell me what UN number and proper shipping name to use?
Yes, Harmoneus recommends generic UN numbers and proper shipping names for preparations and substances not individually listed in the “Orange Book”.
Is Harmoneus kept up to date with changing legislation?
Yes. Updates are released to ensure that Harmoneus conforms to new regulations as they come into effect.
Will I easily be able to meet the legal requirement to record how decisions about classification and labelling are made?
You can write archive files from Harmoneus. They are standard text files and so you will be able to read them and print them in future whether or not you still have Harmoneus. The archive file records all the questions that Harmoneus asked you about a product and what your answers were. It also records questions and answers that Harmoneus dealt with automatically, the recommendations that Harmoneus made, and your decisions about whether to accept or change any of them. The date the work was done and the dates of the regulations that were applied are also recorded. So if it was later alleged that a product was wrongly labelled you would be able to see how the decisions had been taken, and, if there proved to be an error, whether it was your mistake, a fault with Harmoneus, or an error or ambiguity in the regulations at the time.
I must have to answer a lot of questions if Harmoneus checks through all of the legislation, but many of them are probably irrelevant for my product. Won’t I find myself wasting time going through them?
There are several hundred questions that Harmoneus can ask, but each question you are asked in practice takes account of the ones you have already answered, so that you are asked only about the things that matter for your product. For example, some questions are only relevant for viscous liquids and you will not be asked about them if you not labelling that kind of product. An important advantage of using Harmoneus is that it will not forget about a question, however obscure, if it is relevant for your product.
A typical session with Harmoneus, if you want advice for supply, carriage, and safety data sheet content, takes about five minutes.
What is the difference between Harmoneus Professional and Harmoneus Standard?
Harmoneus Professional includes the following features which are not included in the standard version: archiving, templates, the ability to use ingredients databases, safety data sheet advice and an automated link to SafeTEXT.
What does Harmoneus cost?
The professional version of Harmoneus Professional costs £285 + VAT (where applicable). Harmoneus Standard costs £149 + VAT (where applicable).