Home / Enquiries
How an enquiry is handled
Enquiries about controlled materials are answered on the detail, not on the description. This page sets out the sequence an enquiry goes through and what it needs to contain, so that the first reply can be a useful one rather than a list of questions.
Four steps
You describe the material
What it is or is believed to be, how much of it there is, what it is held in, and where it currently sits.
The position is checked
What rules apply to that material and that movement, and whether identification or analysis has to come first.
Scope in writing
What is being offered, what it depends on, what you have to provide, and what documentation will be produced.
Confirmation
Terms, timing and availability are confirmed in writing. Nothing is treated as agreed until that confirmation is issued.
What to include
Not all of it will be known, and that is fine. Say which parts are certain and which are assumed — that distinction is genuinely useful.
- The substance. What the label says, what the system record says, and what you actually believe it to be.
- The quantity. Number of containers, size, and whether they are full, part-used or unknown.
- The container. Type, condition, valve arrangement, and anything visibly wrong with it.
- The context. Live system, decommissioned system, storage, or clearance.
- Access. Where the material sits and anything about the location that affects reaching it.
- The outcome you need. Identification, recovery, disposal, documentation — or advice on which of those applies.
- Photographs. Of the container, the label and the surrounding arrangement. These are the single most useful thing you can send.
In writing, with its conditions attached
A reply sets out what is being offered and what that offer depends on. Where something cannot be confirmed until the material has been identified, the reply says so rather than assuming the likely answer. Where a requirement falls on you as the holder of the material, that is stated too.
Price, timing, availability and terms are confirmed in writing for the specific enquiry. None of them are published on this site, because none of them would be true across every enquiry.
If the company is not the right place to take a particular job, that is said plainly at the first opportunity.
Safety
Please do not move, vent, decant or attempt to open a container you cannot positively identify in order to answer the questions above. Describe what you can see from where you are standing, photograph it, and leave it alone.