Chapter 13

Environment, Health & Safety

The SAP Development Project EH&S
Environmental protection, health, and safety in the industrial arena have
become a focal point of public interest in recent years. Legislators have
passed a multitude of laws and regulations in order to minimize hazards
encountered during the manufacture and handling of substances.
The large number of substances used or manufactured within a company
and their manifold properties relevant to safety and environmental protection play a crucial role. Industries directly affected are the chemical industry
as well as all other types of corporations that process, use, store or transport
chemical products.

Substances

Environmental protection and safety closely interface with a number of

business applications:

Integration

Materials management
Distribution
Production planning and control
Maintenance
Quality management
Human resources
This high degree of integration led SAP users from the chemical industry to
call for an SAP solution. SAPs contact with the process industry had been
intensified during the development of the PP-PI module. Preliminary requirements on an EH&S solution were defined in workshops conducted by
the German Association of Chemical Industries. However, requests for an
EH&S solution also came from SAP customers in the automotive industry,
mechanical engineering, utilities as well as transportation companies. For
this reason, the EH&S system is designed for use across all sectors of industry.

Importance of EH&S

Before the development project got underway, SAP actively pursued close
cooperation with its partners in industry. In the planning and detailed design phases, SAP was able to work with a number of major corporations
from the chemical industry.

Partners in Industry

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Environment, Health & Safety

Overview of Functionality
Release Policy

The following functionality will become available as part of Release 3.0E:

Substance database
Phrase management
Flexible substance reporting including MS-Winword integration
featuring:


Material safety data sheets

Labels

User-defined substance reports

Substance information system

Shipment of material safety data sheets from SD
Management of inbound material safety data sheets

Substance Database

The substance database is used by the EH&S system to store various types of
information. It is not only used to store substance identifiers but also compositions, physical, chemical, and toxicological properties, substance classifications, an array of instructions (first aid, handling, storage, etc.) plus information on the inclusion of substances in statutory lists.
 Substance master

Aceton
(technical)

Characteristic Type

Substance: Methanol
Property
Boiling point
Vapor pressure
Flash point

 Substance property

Value
56,5 oC
128 hPa
12,0 oC

Condition
1 bar
20 oC

Substance to be monitored: Super glue

 Substance listing

Acetone
Methyl alcohol

Acetone (techn.)

 Composition

 Phrase library

Analysis
_______
_______
_______
___

Acetone
Methyl alcohol
Water
Residual

98,0 %
1,3 %
0,6 %
0,1 %

Risik-records
R12 Highly inflammable
R23 Poisons by inhalation

Fig. 13-1: Elements of the substance database

Flexibility of the
Substance Database

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It also became clear that, in some applications, substance-related information,

as described above, can be so varied as to make the implementation of predefined data structures impossible. Use of R/3s cross-application classification
system enables a flexible approach to the definition of substance properties.

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Environment, Health & Safety

You can define any given properties (classes) using any number of fields
(characteristics). The EH&S module can be shipped with a number of standard
substance properties. These standard substance properties can be added to as
required; with upward compatibility, every customer system can be enhanced to include customer-specific properties.
Many substance properties base on textual information. During the development of the substance database, it has proven very useful to manage these
texts as so-called phrases. In this context a phrase is a standard text module.

Phrase Management

You can use substance reporting to create substance-related documents such

as material safety data sheets, TREMcards, labels and others. Microsoft
Word Version 6.0 (Winword) is integrated with the EH&S system for this
purpose.

Substance Reporting

SD shipment of material safety data sheets comprises MSDS shipment, a

complete shipment log as well as automatic distribution of revised material
safety data sheets in accordance with legal requirements.

Shipment of Material Safety

Data Sheets from SD

Management of inbound material safety data sheets enables storage of

scanned MSDS as well as the recording of identifiers and selected properties
in the substance database.

Inbound Material Safety

Data Sheets

The next development phase will include hazardous goods processing from
SD. SAP plans to continuously enhance EH&S functionality provided by
R/3. Preliminary studies for the next design phases have already been initiated.

Planned Functionality

Substance Database - Overview

In EH&S, the term substance refers to a chemical or group of chemicals,
that is, a chemical element, a chemical compound or a mixture of the two.

Definition

A substance may be a natural substance, come into existence during manufacture or be an ideal substance (a substance not found in reality). It may
consist of several substances (preparation, compound or solution) or be a
pure substance. A substance may be used to categorize common properties
(substance group).
A substance is normally assigned to several materials. The material carries
information relevant to logistics and the substance carries data on substance
properties. A substance distributed in various packaging sizes or trading
units does not vary as far as its properties are concerned. However, data
such as price, weight, dimensions, will differ. The figure 13-2 illustrates
possible material/substance relationships.

Material /Substance
Relationship

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Environment, Health & Safety

Material

Relationship

Substance

1:1

Acetone p.a.

Acetone p.a.

1:n

Super
glue

SAE
15-W40

Oil
1 liter

Synthetic
resin
Hardener

SAE
15-W40

n:1

Oil
5 liter

0:1

SAE
15-W40

Oil
SAE 15-W40

Salts of chromium

Fig. 13-2: Substance / material relationships

Substance Identification
A substance identification is an identifying description of a substance. As a
rule, an identification consists of several identifiers. One identifier is not
sufficient to ensure unique identification. Only a combination of several
identifiers guarantees unique identification.

Substance Identifiers

A substance identifier is characterized by its identification type and identification category. The identification type specifies the data type, whereas the
identification category defines the precise meaning of the identifier. The
following three identification types exist:
Names
Numbers
Chemical formulas

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Names

Standard name categories such as IUPAC names, trivial names, and synonyms are supported by EH&S.

Numbers

Numbers are derived from various official substance registration systems.

Each new substance is, for instance, included in the Chemical Abstract
Service (CAS number).

Chemical Formulas

The third identification type are chemical formulas. EH&S is configured for
empirical and structured formulas. SAP plans to connect EH&S to the R/3
document management system, enabling you to store graphics of, for instance, two or three-dimensional structural formulas for a substance.

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13

The figure below illustrates the structure used for substance identification.
Identification
Identification type

Identification category

Names

Name category

ID-Keys

ID key category

Trade name
IUPAC
Synonym
CAS-number
Index- number
Internal number
H

Formulas

Category of formulas

CL

O
N=
O

X Grafik

Molecular formular

Fig. 13-3: Substance identification - structure

Substance Properties
A substance property provides information on a substance either as a numerical value, with the appropriate unit of measure, or as a text.
This information can be linked to further details, such as the source of the
information, method of determination, etc.
Substance properties can be grouped, for example, according to:
physical properties
Chemical properties
Toxicological properties
Ecological properties
First aid measures
Safety instructions
Hazard ratings, etc.
As a rule, a substance property consists of more than one item of information. A physical property may consist of several characteristics, for instance,
a numeric value range (maximum and minimum value), an accuracy requirement in form of a +/- deviation, one or more parameters, a method, etc.
EH&S uses the R/3 classification system to define substance properties. In
the language of the classification system, a substance property is represented
by a class. You can assign any desired number of characteristics to a class.

Classification System

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Environment, Health & Safety

Substance Characteristics

The values you record for a substance property are stored as substance characteristics. You can maintain any number of substance characteristics for a
substance or substance property. The sources, methods or one or more of the
parameters (for example, the pressure at which the boiling point was determined) may differ for the various substance characteristics.
The figure below illustrates the method used to represent substance properties.
Substance

Benzene

Super glue

Properties

Valuation

Melting point

No.: 1
No.: 2

-3 oC 1013 mbar
2 oC 1200 mbar

DIN 1243
DIN 1243

Flash point

No.: 1

87oC

ISO 1812

Safety
instructions
..

No.: 1

S2 Keep away from children...

S13 Keep away from food ...

Flash point

No.: 1
No.: 2

124 oC
130 oC

ISO 9876
DIN 1234

Fig. 13-4: Substance property - structure

Enhancement

The main requirements on the substance database are its flexibility and
scope for enhancement. The use of the R/3 classification system enables the
user to enhance the substance database by any desired number of properties
featuring any desired structure.

Substance Compositions
The substance composition is a listing of all substance components and their
respective concentrations in substances consisting of several components.
Substance components are those substances that remain components of a
substance after the manufacturing process has been completed.

Substance Composition
Category

The level of detail required for a substance composition listing varies depending on the intended usage and recipient. The details contained vary as
far as the listed components and the required accuracy of the quantitative
values are concerned.
Composition categories, might, for instance, be:
Precise chemical composition
Composition compliant with TSCA (Toxic Substance Control Act)

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Environment, Health & Safety

In order to describe a real substance, it is often necessary to describe the

substances used to obtain the real substance or those that it contains or may
release.

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Substance Listing

For this purpose, substance listings, that is, the specification of substances for
a substance are used. This is a listing of substances without any quantitative
details. Example of substance listing categories are:
Substances to be monitored at a work center
Decomposition products released by heating
A substance may have many properties in common with other substances.
The substance database enables you to create references between substances.

Substance Reference

Properties Tree
The properties tree makes controlled navigation between the many substance properties possible. The properties are structured using the properties
tree. You can define any number of grouping levels (nodes) between the
individual properties (end nodes) and a substance (root).

Fig. 13-5: Properties tree

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Environment, Health & Safety

If requested, EH&S is supplied with a standard properties tree. Using Customizing, you can define properties trees that display any desired structure.
You can, for instance, use this functionality to create trees for specific tasks
(departmental trees) or individual (user-specific) properties trees.

Phrase Management
Phrase Libraries

EH&S enables you to maintain any number of phrase libraries.

Import/Export of Phrases

EH&S provides you with an import/export interface that you can use to
import commercially available phrase libraries. Using this interface, you can
also transfer modifications made to phrase libraries. The original phrase key
is maintained in the EH&S source library for this purpose. You can exchange
phrase libraries using the combined export/import function.

Translation

All textual information on a substance must be translated into the national

languages of the countries with which your company does business. EH&S
phrase management enables the language-dependent storage of all texts
assigned to a phrase and controls their translation. The figure below shows a
phrase and its translations.

Fig. 13-6: Maintenance of phrase texts and translation

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Environment, Health & Safety

Substance Reporting
Documents created using the substance database and especially those
addressing external recipients, require the functionality provided by modern
word processors. EH&S provides features such as the insertion of graphics
files such as logos, hazard symbols, pictograms as well as color printing,
tables, etc.

Requirements for
EH&S Documents

Due to the multitude of documents required, users must be able to individually define document layouts and contents.
EH&S substance reporting uses Microsoft Word Version 6.0 (Winword),
with which the user can layout documents then assigning data proposed by
the substance database to certain areas of the document.

Winword Integration

The following examples are intended to provide you with an impression of

the features provided by EH&S substance reporting:

Examples

Hazardous substance label (multi-lingual)

Material safety data sheet pursuant to EU guideline

Fig. 13-7: Hazardous substance label (multi-lingual)

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Environment, Health & Safety

EC Safety Data Sheet

Date of issue: 12.05.96 13:45

Page: 1/1

1. Identification of substance / preparation and of the company / undertaking

Information about product:
Tradename:
Super Solvent A

Information about manufacturer / supplier:

Company
TechniDATA
D-88677 Markdorf
Phone number: 07544/5095-0
Emergency phone :07544/5095-0

2. Composition / information on ingredients

Hazard symbols
T F
C

Super Solvent A
Benzyl amine

R-phrases
R 11-23/24/25
R 34

Index number
608-001-00-3
612-001-00-3

Concentration
20 - 30 %
< 15 %

3. Hazards identification
Highly flammable, toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed.

4. First aid Measures

General advice
Skin contact
Eye contact

: Take off all contaminated clothing immediatly.

Move to fresh air.
: Wash off with plenty of water.
Remove contaminated clothing.
: Rinse with plenty of water. Keep eye wide open while rinsing.

5. Regulatory information
Classification
according to EEC
directives

Has to be labeled

Hazard symbols

: F
T

Highly flammable
Toxic

R-phrases

: 11
23/24/25
: 16
27
44

Highly flammable
Toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed.
Keep away from sources of ignition - No smoking
Take off immediately all contaminated clothing.
If you feel unwell, seek medical advice (show the label
where possible).

S-phrases

Fig. 13-8: Material safety data sheet compliant with EU guideline

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Material Safety Data Sheet Processing

Material safety data sheet processing comprises the creation, management
(version storage) as well as the automatic shipment of material safety data
sheets. The system reacts to relevant MSDS revisions and automatically triggers their distribution.
Apart from the shipment of material safety data sheets, you can also use
material safety data sheet processing for the management of inbound MSDS.
The shipment of material safety data sheets is triggered automatically from
SD sales or SD shipment. Shipment is controlled by the requirements that
apply to the appropriate jurisdiction (such as OSHA, Occupational Safety
and Health Administration).

Integration with Logistics

You can distribute MSDS by mail, fax EDI, or CD. The system automatically
selects the valid MSDS version for the country/language variant. You can
choose color or shading options. If you want to send several MSDS to one
recipient, the system automatically bundles them into one shipment. MSDS
processing also features subscription management that enables you to send
MSDS to interested parties (public authorities, institutes, etc.) with which
you have no business relationship.

Performance Features

The SAP EH&S development project provides software support for business
processes in those areas of environmental protection and occupational health
and safety that interface with SAP R/3 business transactions.
Which main features does the first EH&S release provide?
EH&S Release 3.0 provides you with a substance database, phrase
management, as well as substance reporting functionality integrated with
Microsoft Word.

How is EH&S integrated with other R/3 modules?

EH&S Release 3.0 is linked with the R/3 material master records. You can
trigger automatic MSDS shipment in SD. EH&S can be used to manage and
record inbound MSDS.

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