Last month, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) released the new CHESAR (CHEmical Safety Assessment and Reporting) Platform. As it is the subject of much discussion, ECHA pronounce Chesar as pronounced “kez-ar” and you can watch the introductory webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCcw9UQvOas
The new assessment platform is hosted via the ECHA Cloud Service and you can gain access using your existing ECHA cloud login, with a one off set up.
The new platform combines both the existing Chesar 3 tool and EUSES model into a single risk assessment approach. As Chesar Platform is developed, ECHA’s biocide will also be included.
The aim of this harmonized approach is to standardise chemical risk assessment and reporting under both the REACH Regulation and the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR).
Other benefits of the new platform are the standardised report style for results and the ability to use existing IUCLID substance profiles.
The new platform can be used for modelling biocidal active substance environmental emissions and generating standardised draft reports, as well as incorporating ECTOC TRA for human heath exposure to workers and consumers (under REACH). For those involved with REACH, chemical safety assessments for both human and environmental risk assessment can be carried out, as well as Chemical Safety Report (CSR) generation. With all updates being hosted on this single platform, the approach to risk assessment methodologies will become more streamlined.
It should be noted that there will be a transitional period of around one year for those companies who have been using Chesar 3 until now, however, migration of existing substances and scenarios to the new platform could be complex and users are advised to plan well ahead.