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Sites & Locations

For: Admin, Manager

Your chemical inventory, SDS library, training assignments, and HazCom plans are all organized by site. Setting up your site structure correctly is one of the most important things you'll do in Tellus, because it determines how chemicals are tracked, how training is assigned, and how compliance is measured.

How It Works​

Tellus uses a two-level hierarchy to represent your physical world:

Company
└── Site (physical facility)
    └── Location (area within a site)

Sites are your physical facilities — the buildings and properties where work happens. Locations are the specific areas within a site where chemicals are stored or used. This structure mirrors how OSHA thinks about your workplace: each site needs its own chemical inventory, its own SDS access point, and its own HazCom plan.

Sites​

A site is any physical facility your company operates. Examples include:

  • Warehouse or distribution center
  • Manufacturing plant or factory floor
  • Office building
  • Retail store or shop
  • Construction job site
  • Laboratory
  • Agricultural field operation

Site Information​

When you add a site, you'll provide:

  • Site code — A short identifier for the site (e.g., HQ, MFG1). Required.
  • Site name — A recognizable name (e.g., "Main Warehouse," "Downtown Office"). Required.
  • Description — A brief note about what happens at this site
  • Address — Street, city, state, postal code, and country
  • Site manager — The manager's name and a contact (email or phone)

You can add more detailed regulatory information — like facility identifiers and emergency contacts — after the site exists, from the site's detail tabs. See The Site Detail View below.

Why Sites Matter​

Everything in Tellus is scoped to a site:

FeatureHow Sites Apply
Chemical inventoryEach site has its own inventory. A chemical at your warehouse is tracked separately from the same chemical at your lab.
SDS librarySDSs are shared across your company, but inventory entries linking chemicals to SDSs are site-specific.
TrainingTraining assignments target employees at specific sites. A new hire at Site A gets Site A's training.
HazCom plansEach site gets its own Written HazCom Program tailored to its specific chemical inventory.
Quantity trackingQuantity aggregation and threshold alerts are calculated per site.
Compliance scoringInsights tracks compliance metrics independently for each site.

Managing Sites​

You manage your facilities from AdminHQ > Sites & Structure, on the Sites tab. Each site appears as a card showing its name and code, a one-line address, and how many locations it has. Cards are clickable — selecting one opens that site's detail view (see The Site Detail View).

What you see and can do depends on your role:

CapabilityAdminManager
View all company sitesYes--
View assigned site(s) only--Yes
Add a new siteYes--
Edit site detailsYesYes (assigned sites only)
Deactivate a siteYes--
Reactivate a siteYes--

For Administrators:

  • Add a site — Click Add Site, fill in the details on the add-site page, and click Create Site. Your new site appears in the list immediately.
  • Edit a site — Click any site card to open its detail view, then update its information from the Details tab.
  • Deactivate a site — Open the site's ... (overflow) menu and choose Deactivate, or use the Deactivate site action from inside the site's detail view. You'll be asked to confirm. Deactivated sites are hidden from dropdowns and selectors but their historical data is fully preserved.
  • Reactivate a site — Open the deactivated site's Details tab and check the Site is active checkbox, then save. The site and all its data immediately become available again across the platform.

For Managers:

  • You only see the site(s) you've been assigned to — not all company sites
  • You can open your site and update its details from the Details tab
  • You cannot add new sites or deactivate existing sites — contact an administrator for those changes

Inactive sites are clearly marked with an Inactive badge in the sites list so you can quickly see which facilities are currently in use and which are dormant.

Each card also shows a Tier II readiness chip — see Tier II Readiness at a Glance below.

When to Deactivate vs. Delete​

Tellus uses deactivation rather than deletion for sites. This is by design — when a facility closes or goes offline temporarily, you want to preserve the compliance history (chemical records, training logs, SDS data) associated with that site. Deactivating a site:

  • Hides it from the site selector, dashboards, and new assignments
  • Preserves all historical inventory, training, and compliance data
  • Lets you reactivate the site later with all data intact
  • Does not count against your plan's site limit while inactive

The Site Detail View​

When you open a site, its detail view is organized into tabs so you can work on one part of the site at a time without scrolling through a single giant form. A Back to Sites link returns you to the list, and the header shows the site name (with an Inactive badge if it's deactivated), the Tier II readiness chip, and an ... overflow menu for actions like Deactivate site.

The tabs are:

TabWhat it's for
OverviewA read-only snapshot of the site — its Tier II readiness checklist plus key facts (site code, address, and locations). This is the landing tab.
DetailsThe site basics: code, name, description, address, site manager, and the active/inactive status.
Tier II / EPCRAFacility identifiers used for Tier II reporting — classification codes, coordinates, staffing, jurisdictions, and which regulatory programs apply.
Contacts & partiesEmergency contacts, responsible parties, and the contact shown on your public SDS portal.
LocationsThe areas within the site where chemicals are stored or used. The tab shows a count badge when locations exist.

One Save Per Tab​

Each tab that you can edit — Details and Tier II / EPCRA — has its own Save changes button. You save the tab you're working on, and only that tab. This keeps things predictable: you'll never accidentally overwrite a half-finished entry on another tab, and you always know exactly what you're committing.

The Contacts & parties and Locations tabs work a little differently. There, each contact, party, or location is its own row. You add or edit a single entry in a slide-out panel and save it on the spot — so there's no page-wide save button to remember.

Site code and Site name are required. If either is blank when you try to save, Tellus points you to the Details tab to fix it.

Tier II Readiness at a Glance​

Tellus tracks whether each site has the information it needs for Tier II / EPCRA reporting (the annual hazardous-chemical inventory report many facilities must file under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act). You'll see this in two places:

  • On each site card in the list — a small chip shows either Tier II · Complete (green) or a percentage with how many fields are still missing (amber).
  • In the site header and Overview tab — the same chip, plus a full readiness checklist on the Overview tab.

The Overview checklist lists every requirement and marks each as Done or still needed. Items that aren't met yet show a Resolve link that takes you straight to the right tab and field to fix it — for example, a missing emergency coordinator opens the Contacts & parties tab, and a missing classification code opens the Tier II / EPCRA tab. As you fill things in and save, the readiness percentage updates.

The chip on the sites list reflects only the site-level Tier II fields, so it can read 100% before you're fully ready. The Overview checklist is the complete picture — it also accounts for your emergency contacts and responsible parties. Always confirm readiness from the Overview tab.

The Tier II / EPCRA Tab​

This tab holds the facility identifiers that go on a Tier II inventory report. You only need these if your site files Tier II — but filling them in is what turns the readiness chip green. The fields are grouped so you can work through them section by section, and the whole tab saves at once with its Save changes button.

GroupFieldsWhy it's collected
ClassificationNAICS code, SIC code, DUNS number, Tier II Facility IDIdentifies what your facility does and ties your report to the state-assigned facility record
LocationLatitude, LongitudePinpoints the facility for emergency responders and LEPCs
StaffingMax occupants, Manned / Unmanned, facility contact, facility phoneTells responders how many people could be on site and who to reach
JurisdictionsFire department jurisdiction, LEPC jurisdictionThe local fire authority and Local Emergency Planning Committee that receive your report
Regulatory programsSubject to CFATS, Subject to RMPFlags whether the site falls under Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards or the EPA's Risk Management Program

When you click Resolve on a Tier II item in the Overview checklist — for example a missing NAICS code or coordinates — Tellus opens this tab and jumps straight to the field that needs attention.

You don't have to complete every field to use Tellus. These only matter if your site is required to file a Tier II report under EPCRA. If you're not sure whether you report, your state's emergency response commission (SERC) or LEPC can confirm.

The Contacts & Parties Tab​

This tab is where you record the people and organizations behind the site. It has three sections, each a list you build up one entry at a time. Every entry opens in a slide-out panel and saves on its own — there's no page-wide save button here.

Emergency contacts — The people responders call in an emergency. Each contact has a contact type (Facility Emergency Coordinator or 24/7 Emergency Contact), a full name, an optional title, email, day phone, and a 24/7 phone. The 24/7 phone is required when the contact type is a 24/7 emergency contact. Tier II reporting expects at least a Facility Emergency Coordinator, so this is one of the items the readiness checklist looks for.

Responsible parties — The owner, operator, parent corporation, or Tier II preparer/signer for the site. Each party has a role (Owner, Operator, Parent Corporation, or Financial Contact), an entity type (Company or Individual), and a legal name. For companies and certain roles, an EIN and a contact person (name and title) are also collected, along with address fields. Adding an Owner, an Operator, and a Tier II signer/preparer is what completes the responsible-parties portion of the readiness checklist.

Public SDS portal contact — The name and phone shown to anyone who scans this site's binder QR poster and reaches its public SDS portal. You can leave this blank to fall back to your company-wide portal contact, or add a site override. The contact can be a role/title (preferred — e.g. "Site EHS Manager / 24/7 Hotline") or a named individual, plus a phone number.

When you click Resolve on a contacts item in the Overview checklist, Tellus opens this tab, scrolls to the right section, and opens its add panel for you.

Locations​

A location is a specific area within a site where chemicals are physically stored or used. Locations give you granular tracking so you know not just which site a chemical is at, but exactly where it sits.

Location Details​

When you add or edit a location, you can capture:

  • Location name — A descriptive name (e.g., "Warehouse A," "Lab 101"). Required.
  • Location type — Warehouse, Laboratory, Office, Manufacturing, Storage, or Other
  • Hazard type — Chemical, Physical, Biological, or None. When set to anything other than None, a colored badge appears on the location row so high-hazard areas stand out.
  • Ventilation status — Good, Fair, Poor, or N/A

Location Hierarchy​

Locations are flat within a site — they don't nest inside each other. You can use naming conventions to imply hierarchy:

  • "Building A — Floor 2 — Lab 201"
  • "Warehouse > Aisle 3 > Shelf B"
  • "Main Office / Storage Closet"

Managing Locations​

Open a site and go to its Locations tab to manage its areas. (You can also reach the same list from the ... menu on a site card by choosing Manage locations.)

  • Add a location — Click Add location. A panel slides in from the side; enter the name, pick the type, hazard type, and ventilation status, then click Add location.
  • Edit a location — Click any location row to reopen that same panel, make your changes, and click Save changes.
  • Delete a location — Open the location's ... menu and choose Delete, then confirm.

Each location row shows the name and type, the hazard badge (when applicable), and the ventilation status at a glance.

Access Posters (Coming Soon)​

A second tab in AdminHQ > Sites & Structure, Access Posters, will let you generate printable QR code posters for each site. When employees scan the QR code with their phone, they'll be taken directly to that site's SDS library, emergency procedures, or chemical inventory. This feature is currently in development and is marked SOON in the interface.

Setting Up Your Site Structure​

Getting your site structure right before adding chemicals saves time and prevents reorganization later. Here's the recommended approach:

  1. List all your facilities — Every physical location where your company handles chemicals needs to be a site
  2. Add each site with its code, name, address, and site manager
  3. Define locations within each site — Use the site's Locations tab to add the areas where chemicals are stored: cabinets, shelves, rooms, storage closets
  4. Fill in Tier II details if you report — If a site files a Tier II inventory, work through its Overview readiness checklist to complete the facility identifiers and emergency contacts
  5. Start adding chemicals — With your structure in place, you can assign chemicals to specific sites and locations during import

For step-by-step instructions, see Add Sites and Locations.

Plan Limits​

Your Tellus EHS account ($99/month) includes up to 3 sites. If you need more capacity, contact the Tellus team.

Multi-Site Management​

When managing multiple sites, Tellus provides cross-site features:

  • Cross-site inventory view — See chemicals across all your sites in one list
  • Copy chemicals between sites — Duplicate inventory entries from one site to another
  • Multi-site compliance dashboard — Compare compliance scores across all your facilities
  • Site-scoped roles — Assign different roles to the same user at different sites