Faculty members, researchers and facility managers in charge of spaces that use or store chemicals on campus must fill out an online inventory of the chemicals they use by Feb. 28 to ensure Cornell's compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards.

Homeland Security issued guidelines Nov. 20, 2007, to protect against the theft and use of chemicals in terrorist activities. "Along with all other research universities, Cornell must submit to the Department of Homeland Security an inventory for chemicals it has identified to have the potential for use in terrorist activities when present in quantities above certain thresholds," said Mike Lonon, manager of hazardous materials for the department of Environmental Health and Safety at Cornell, who is overseeing the inventory.

The inventory surveys are available at http://www.rmps.cornell.edu/dhsinventory/.

The 171 chemicals on Cornell's inventory list (pared down from a Homeland Security list of 325 chemicals) range from some common chemicals to potential warfare agents, Lonon said. "The Department of Homeland Security is worried about things that can be used either as a release in a gas cloud to cause harm to people or could be used to make an explosive device," he explained.

However, to put this in perspective, quantity matters. Homeland Security is looking for large stockpiles of these chemicals that could be vulnerable to theft. And Cornell keeps very small amounts of most chemicals, which are inventoried and stored at the department or unit level. Completion of the Homeland Security survey will be a giant step towards a comprehensive inventory of chemical usage on campus.

"We are a top-flight research university, and we have very small quantities of a lot of chemicals here," Lonon said. "If the quantities are under a certain threshold, we won't have to report them to Homeland Security." As a result, he expects that university users will report only about 60 of the chemicals on the Homeland Security list.

There are about 3,000 rooms on campus where chemicals are used and stored, 90 percent of them in research areas. The inventory sites include the New York State Agriculture Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., and outlying facilities; Weill Cornell Medical School is conducting a separate inventory.

The inventory Web site and tool were produced in-house, Lonon noted. "We've done our best to make it easy for folks to fill out." He cut the Homeland Security reporting list to 171 chemicals and listed them by category. "The inventory site works well and was very easy to navigate and enter data," said David W. Kalb, facilities manager for the Department of Plant Pathology.

"Research may be stopped and grants held up or denied if Cornell does not comply with this requirement," said Allen Bova, director of risk management and insurance, "so it is extremely important that the survey be completed by the deadline. This really needs to move to the top of everyone's list. I can't stress that enough."

Homeland Security wrote the chemical guidelines initially for chemical facilities and manufacturers, Lonon explained, but its scope was broadened and put on a fast track by Congress. "Universities are not singled out for these regulations," he said. "But we have to know what we have on campus so that we may comply with these regulations with complete accuracy."