What should an industrial chemical survey cover before you quote?
Summary
An industrial chemical survey before a program recommendation covers six areas: equipment, current products and usage, operating conditions, problem history, contacts, and storage and disposal. This holds for a supplier's site visit across lubricants, water treatment, cleaners and coatings. It differs from a regulatory chemical inventory form, which records what is stored, not what the process needs.
US employers must keep a safety data sheet (SDS) for each hazardous chemical in the workplace, readily accessible to employees during each work shift (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8)).
A US hazardous waste determination must be made at the point of generation, before any dilution, mixing or other alteration of the waste (EPA, 40 CFR 262.11(a)).
US very small quantity generators produce 100 kilograms or less of hazardous waste per month; large quantity generators produce 1,000 kilograms or more (EPA, accessed 2026).
For boiler water, samples hotter than 77°F (25°C) must be cooled before collection to stay representative, according to ASME's 2006 consensus on sampling and monitoring (Water Technology, 2006).
This survey is the supplier's pre-recommendation visit. It does not replace the site's own regulatory filings, such as a US EPCRA Tier II inventory, a process hazard analysis, or a permit application. Rules cited here are US federal; other jurisdictions set their own SDS and waste rules.
What do you need before a chemical site survey?
Before a chemical site survey, you need the site's own records requested in advance, a survey sheet with the six areas, and a clear line between a supplier survey and a chemical inventory. Ask ahead for the equipment list, the current product list, recent lab or water reports, and complaint and failure records for a stated period, such as twelve months.
Keep the purpose straight. A US EPCRA Section 312 Tier II form is an inventory filed by March 1 each year with the state emergency response commission, local emergency planning committee and fire department (EPA, accessed 2026). That form lists what is stored. A supplier survey asks what the process needs, how the current products perform, and what has gone wrong, so the recommendation fits the site.
Run the visit in this order:
Walk the process from raw water or incoming material to waste.
Record each piece of equipment that touches a product.
Read the product labels and the SDS file against the product list.
Take or request readings for the operating conditions.
Interview operators and maintenance about problems.
Confirm contacts, then walk storage and waste areas.
What process and equipment details should a chemical site survey record?
A chemical site survey should record each process step and each piece of equipment that a product touches, with its type, size or volume, materials of construction and duty. For a cooling tower, that means system volume, metallurgy of the heat exchangers and the make-up source. For a machining line, it means sump volumes, machine types and the metals cut. For a lubricated fleet, it means machine type, lubricant points and the OEM's stated requirements.
Materials matter because they decide what a product must not attack. Copper alloys, galvanized steel, aluminum, elastomer seals and paint systems each narrow the list of products that can be recommended. Record what you saw on nameplates and drawings, and mark what was told to you but not confirmed.
Volumes matter because every dose, change-out interval and usage rate starts from them. When a sump or system volume is unknown, write "not known" and plan how to estimate it, rather than taking a guess into the recommendation. Duty cycle matters too: continuous, batch or seasonal operation changes how fast a product is consumed and how quickly a problem shows.
How do you record the current products and usage during a site survey?
Record the current products during a site survey by name, product type, where each is used, how much is used over a stated period, and how it is dosed or applied, then match the list against the site's SDS file. In the US, employers must keep an SDS for each hazardous chemical in the workplace, readily accessible during each work shift (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8)), so the SDS file is a quick check that the product list is complete.
Usage should come from records, not memory: purchase history, dosing logs or inventory counts over a period you state, such as one quarter. Note who supplies each product and any past product changes.
Watch for products the list misses. Cleaners used by maintenance, top-up oils bought locally and additives used by one shift often appear only on the shelf. These products can interact with what you plan to recommend, so read the labels in the work area as well as the list. Where a product's SDS is missing, note it for the site rather than guessing its chemistry, and do not handle an unlabeled container.
Which operating conditions should a chemical site survey capture?
A chemical site survey should capture the operating conditions that the recommended product must survive, measured or taken from site records with the method and date: temperatures, flows, pressures, concentrations, and the quality of the water or fluid in use. The set depends on the product line.
For water-mixed metalworking fluids, OSHA's best practices manual asks whether systems are routinely monitored for concentration, pH, microbial levels, tramp oil and suspended particulate matter as appropriate (OSHA, accessed 2026). For boilers, ASME's consensus says effective monitoring of makeup water, condensate, feedwater and boiler water qualities and steam purity is necessary to control deposition and corrosion (Water Technology, 2006). For lubricants, record operating temperature, load and contamination sources such as water or dust.
A reading only counts if the sample is representative. ASME's consensus says boiler water samples hotter than 77°F (25°C) must be cooled before collection to keep the sample representative and protect the person collecting it (Water Technology, 2006). Follow the site's sampling procedure and the product's SDS when taking any sample. When a condition cannot be measured on the day, record it as a gap, and ask the site for the last logged values with their dates.
Why does problem history matter before recommending a chemical program?
Problem history matters before recommending a chemical program because the recommendation has to solve what actually goes wrong at the site, and past failures show conditions that a single visit will miss. A cooling system that scales in summer, a coolant that turns rancid after shutdowns, or a gear oil that foams after washdowns all point to conditions the walk-through may not catch on the day.
Record each problem with what was seen, when it happened, how often, what was tried and what changed afterward. Ask maintenance, quality and purchasing, because each remembers different failures. Separate measured evidence from what someone remembers.
Sites that track data spot these patterns sooner. OSHA's metalworking fluids manual recommends collecting physical observations, laboratory analyses and data on additions, tabulated so relationships and trends can be spotted (OSHA, accessed 2026). Where the site has such a log, copy the relevant period into the survey. Where it does not, the survey's problem history becomes the first version of that record. Ask also what the site expects from the program, because a recommendation judged on a goal no one stated will look like a failure later.
Which contacts should an industrial site survey identify?
An industrial site survey should identify everyone who decides on, uses, or signs off on the chemical program: the decision maker who approves it, the daily users, maintenance, environmental health and safety (EHS), quality, and purchasing. Each role can stop or change the recommendation for a different reason.
Record each contact's role, what they care about, and how they want to be reached, with the site's permission to keep the details. The operator who doses the product knows whether a procedure is practical. EHS decides whether a new product's SDS is acceptable on site. Purchasing sets how a change is approved.
Note who has been involved in past product changes and what they objected to. That record matters when the account changes hands, because the next representative inherits the relationships along with the products. What a distributor should track about contacts and accounts, beyond what a CRM holds, is covered in what chemical distributors track beyond a CRM. Lubinpla keeps survey results as customer notes and contacts, and as per-site project conditions.
What should a site survey record about chemical storage and disposal?
A site survey should record how each chemical product is stored, how spent product and containers leave the site, and which rules the site already works under, because a recommendation that does not fit storage or waste routes will not be adopted. Note storage locations, container sizes, secondary containment and whether flammable products are kept in cabinets or rooms.
In the US, a single storage cabinet may hold not more than 60 gallons (about 227 liters) of Category 1, 2 or 3 flammable liquids or 120 gallons (about 454 liters) of Category 4 flammable liquids (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.106(d)(3)(i)). A recommendation that adds a flammable product may need cabinet space the site does not have.
For waste, record how spent fluids, rinse water and empty containers are handled and who collects them. In the US, the hazardous waste determination is made at the point of generation, before any dilution or mixing (EPA, 40 CFR 262.11(a)), and the site's generator category depends on how much hazardous waste it produces per month (EPA, accessed 2026). Record the site's category as the site reports it. The survey records the route; the site's EHS staff and the product's SDS decide how a new product's waste is handled.
How do you check a chemical site survey is complete?
Check a chemical site survey is complete by reading each of the six areas against what it should record and what happens if it is missing; a survey supports a recommendation only when no area is blank or marked unknown without a plan to fill it. The table below decides whether the survey supports a recommendation or needs a second visit:
Survey area | What to record | If missing |
|---|---|---|
Process and equipment | Each step, equipment type, volume, materials, duty | Dose and compatibility cannot be set: second visit |
Current products and usage | Product, type, use point, amount per stated period, SDS on file | Interactions and switching risk unknown: request records |
Operating conditions | Temperatures, flows, concentrations, water or fluid data with method and date | Product may not survive the conditions: take readings first |
Problem history | Each problem, dates, frequency, what was tried | The recommendation may not address the real problem: interview staff |
Contacts | Decision maker, users, maintenance, EHS, quality, purchasing | Approval stalls: confirm roles before proposing |
Storage and disposal | Locations, containers, cabinet space, waste routes, generator category as reported | Product may not fit site rules: check with EHS |
The key row is operating conditions: a recommendation built on missing or unrepresentative readings is a guess about whether the product will survive the process. The problem history row comes next: without it, the survey describes the site as it looked on one day. Close each gap with the site before writing the recommendation, and date the survey so later readers know what it reflects. When two or more areas are missing, plan a second visit rather than filling them from assumptions. Share the completed table with the site contacts so they can correct it.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a chemical site survey take?
Long enough to walk the whole process once and talk to operators on each shift that uses the product. A survey of several systems often needs a second visit for readings that cannot be taken on the first day.
Can a survey be done remotely?
Partly. Equipment lists, product lists, SDS files and logged readings can be sent ahead. Storage, labeling, operator practice and the condition of the equipment still need someone on site.
Who should receive the survey record?
The site's decision maker and the people who supplied information should see a summary, so they can correct it. Keep confidential process details inside the account record and share them only as the site agrees.