Cornell generates some 50 tons of hazardous waste a year across its 6,500 research spaces, 100 departments and 85 buildings. Keeping tabs on all those spaces and waste products used to be a logistical nightmare for Cornell's Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) crew.

But a new Web-based tool developed at Cornell is not only helping them manage the task effectively but also is making waves across the industry and has spawned a new startup. The product has potential in such markets as hospitals, pharmaceuticals, food services and other research-based organizations.

Jerry Gordon, manager for laboratory safety at EH&S, said the software was developed in response to a 2007 safety audit that identified an increased need to document inspections and nearly doubled the amount of spaces that required them. Prior to that, his team of safety inspectors used paper-based checklists and hand-held pocket PCs.

"Conducting environmental health and safety inspections is more than just checking off boxes -- it's about identifying compliance issues, implementing corrective action tracking programs to ensure those issues are resolved, and collecting the data into a central location to inform decisions about how to best invest limited resources," Gordon said.

The new tool connects to the university's space inventory system, addresses all aspects of the process and generates reports and statistics that can be accessed by campus stakeholders with different security credentials, using university IDs. Its success has led to developing LabcliQ, a commercial tool that comes loaded with the relevant resources, but is also highly configurable, Gordon said.

Designed for iPads and other mobile Web-enabled devices, LabcliQ's cloud-based technology means it can be accessed and updated remotely, eliminating the need for individual software installations and IT infrastructure, Gordon said.

Because it was made by safety personnel, the tool is also intuitive for users, he added.

LabcliQ won the "Solutions at Work" award at an industry conference hosted by Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association; the award generated a huge demand from colleges across the country.

So Gordon partnered with a Cornell graduate student, Adi Avadhanula, MBA '11, software developer Curtis Baker and an experienced account manager, Sunny Govathoti, to create SafetyStratus Inc. in April 2011, with an exclusive agreement with Cornell to license LabcliQ to other organizations. SafetyStratus Inc. made its first sale in June.

The product was officially released in October, and Gordon said they are in negotiations with a consortium of 20 campuses.

Gordon shared the results with potential investors at a recent venture forum sponsored by the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization.

Stacey Shackford is the communications specialist for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.