Site Chemical Quantity Aggregation
What It Does
Tellus calculates total chemical quantities at each site by breaking down products into their individual chemical components, converting units to a common standard (pounds and gallons), and aggregating across your entire inventory. This powers Tier II reporting, fire code compliance, and emergency planning.
Why It Matters
Regulatory Requirements
| Requirement | Who Needs It | What's Required |
|---|---|---|
| EPCRA Tier II Report | Facilities with hazardous chemicals above 10,000 lbs | Annual report to state/local emergency planning agencies (due March 1) |
| Fire Permits | Facilities storing flammable/combustible liquids | Maximum Allowable Quantities per International Fire Code |
| Emergency Planning | Facilities with Extremely Hazardous Substances | Chemical inventory data for Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) |
| Insurance | Many commercial operations | Underwriters often require chemical inventory summaries |
The Challenge Without Automation
Your inventory tracks individual products — "5 gallons of Product X" and "10 liters of Product Y." But regulatory reporting needs chemical-level totals — "How many pounds of acetone are on site across all products?"
This requires:
- Looking up each product's SDS composition (which chemicals it contains and at what concentration)
- Converting different units (gallons, liters, ounces, kilograms) to a common standard
- Multiplying by concentration percentages
- Summing across all products containing the same chemical
- Comparing totals against regulatory thresholds
Tellus does all of this automatically.
How It Works
Step 1: Inventory Expansion
Each product in your inventory is broken down into its individual chemical components using SDS composition data. A single cleaning product with 3 chemical ingredients becomes 3 separate entries for aggregation purposes.
Step 2: Unit Conversion
All quantities are normalized to pounds (lbs) for weight and gallons (gal) for volume. Tellus handles conversions between oz, kg, g, liters, quarts, pints, fluid ounces, mL, and cubic feet.
For converting between weight and volume, Tellus uses chemical-specific densities when available, with water density (8.34 lbs/gal) as the default fallback.
Step 3: Concentration Adjustment
Each chemical's contribution is adjusted by its concentration in the product. If a product contains 15% acetone, only 15% of the product's weight counts toward the acetone total.
Step 4: Aggregation by CAS Number
All contributions for the same CAS number are summed to get the site-level total for each chemical.
Step 5: Threshold Comparison
Totals are compared against Tier II thresholds (10,000 lbs for general hazardous chemicals) and International Fire Code Maximum Allowable Quantities.
What You See
Chemical Summary Tab
Each row represents one unique chemical (CAS number) at your site:
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| CAS Number | The chemical's registry number |
| Chemical Name | Common name from SDS composition |
| Quantity (lbs) | Total pounds of this chemical at the site |
| Quantity (gal) | Total gallons of this chemical at the site |
| Containers | Number of containers holding products with this chemical |
| Products | Number of distinct products containing this chemical |
| Hazardous | Whether the chemical has GHS hazard classifications |
| Tier II | Whether the quantity exceeds the 10,000 lb threshold |
| Fire Code | Whether the quantity exceeds fire code limits |
Hazard Summary Tab
Chemicals are grouped by fire code classification (Flammable Liquid, Oxidizer, Corrosive, Toxic) and fire code sub-class (IA, IB, IC, etc.):
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Hazard Category | Fire code category (e.g., "Flammable Liquid") |
| Hazard Class | Sub-class (e.g., "IA" — flash point < 73°F, boiling point < 100°F) |
| Quantity (lbs/gal) | Total for all chemicals in this hazard group |
| Chemicals | Number of unique CAS numbers in this group |
| Fire Permit Limit | Maximum Allowable Quantity from International Fire Code |
| % of Limit | How close you are to the fire code limit |
| Exceeds | Whether you've exceeded the limit |
Status Cards
Four summary cards at the top of the page:
- Total Chemicals — Unique CAS numbers at this site
- Hazardous — How many are classified as hazardous
- Exceeds Tier II — How many exceed the 10,000 lb threshold
- Exceeds Fire Code — How many exceed fire code limits
Tier II Report Data
For Tier II reporting, Tellus tracks:
- Maximum daily amount — The highest quantity on site during the reporting year
- Average daily amount — The average quantity across the year
- Days on site — How many days the chemical was present
- Exceeds threshold — Whether any of these values trigger reporting requirements
Recalculation
Click the Recalculate button on the Site Quantities page to refresh all aggregations. This reprocesses your entire inventory with the latest SDS composition data, unit conversions, and density values.
Tier Availability
| Feature | Starter | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic quantity tracking | Included | Included | Included |
| Site-level aggregation | — | Included | Included |
| Tier II threshold alerts | — | Included | Included |
| Fire code compliance | — | Included | Included |
| Tier II report data | — | Included | Included |
| Hazard summary | — | Included | Included |