Press Room

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 — 3E Company®, the leading provider of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) compliance and information management services, announced today the next generation of its Ariel MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) Distribution Services: Ariel MSDS Push and Ariel MSDS Hosting. Ariel MSDS Distribution Services assist companies—primarily manufacturers and distributors— in fulfilling their obligation to disseminate the necessary information about hazardous materials used in their products to their employees and externally to their downstream customers. Outsourcing the distribution of MSDSs can result in significant cost savings and an improved level of compliance with federal and international regulatory agencies, such as OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and the DOT (Department of Transportation).

Ariel MSDS Push distribution services ensure that a company's MSDSs are sent to their customers in accordance with the regulatory requirements for the jurisdictions in which products are sold and shipped. Client-defined business rules determine when, how, and to whom MSDSs are sent, and which media is used: email, fax or postal mail. The release of the new version of Ariel MSDS Push accommodates the distribution requirements of multi-national clients by hosting documents supporting all relevant jurisdictions and languages, and there is no limit on the number of recipients or modes of distribution triggered by a single shipment.

The Ariel MSDS Hosting application provides access to product MSDSs via a website hosted and maintained by 3E Company. The website is launched directly from the manufacturer or distributor's website, and incorporates some elements of its corporate identity, such as the corporate logo, so that the end-user experience is transparent and seamless.

Similarly to Ariel MSDS Push, the new release of Ariel MSDS Hosting is a global solution that also has the ability to host other documents related to a product, such as biocide registrations, kosher certificates, technical data sheets and toxicological summaries.

"Companies who are required to provide an MSDS, such as chemical manufacturers and distributors, may find our MSDS Distribution Services enable significant cost savings and operational efficiencies," said Robert S. Christie, CEO and president for 3E Company. "Clearly, moving away from a paper-based model which requires a hard copy of the MSDS be included in the shipment of product, to an electronic model driven by intelligent business rules results in a reduction in materials costs and an increase in staff efficiency. The whole idea behind Ariel MSDS Distribution services is to reduce the burdens and costs associated with maintaining regulatory compliance. The suite of Ariel MSDS Distribution services enables business efficiencies and cost reductions to be realized."

Pricing and Availability
Pricing for Ariel MSDS Distribution services is based on a program setup fee, an annual subscription fee and transactional charges. Ariel MSDS Hosting is available for immediate implementation. Ariel MSDS Push is available April 1. For more information, contact a 3E sales representative at 800.360.3220.

About Other Ariel MSDS Distribution Services
Another available MSDS Distribution module is Ariel MSDS eLink, which provides access to MSDSs via the manufacturer or distributor's own website rather than one supplied by 3E. A link from the product or MSDS listing on the manufacturer's website accesses an MSDS image that is hosted and maintained by 3E. If an end-user customer wants to view an MSDS prior to purchasing a product or for use in training post-purchase, they simply visit the manufacturer's website, search for the product and click on the active link next to a product description. This service is available 24-7-365 and provides access to view and print PDF versions of MSDS images, using any Internet browser and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

About 3E Company
3E Company is the first company to provide a comprehensive suite of services for environmental, health and safety (EH&S) related chemical and hazardous materials information and compliance management that addresses the entire chemical lifecycle. This suite of services includes regulatory research; MSDS authoring, distribution and management; transportation; emergency response; training; regulatory reporting; and hazardous waste management. 3E has the industry leading combination of a 24-7-365 hazmat mission control call center, with an online platform for hazmat compliance information management, all built on a foundation of the world's premier hazardous substance database of global regulatory and compliance information. Its international, multi-lingual professional staff is composed of regulatory specialists, experienced product stewards, industrial hygienists, attorneys, chemists and chemical engineers, MSDS experts and EH&S systems consultants.

3E's services offer a cost effective program for global regulatory compliance management by alleviating the pain, managing risk, increasing the efficiency and enhancing staff productivity and enabling EH&S professionals to focus on more strategic functions. Today more than 7,000 customers have partnered with 3E including Costco Wholesale Corporation, America West, Eastman Chemical, Temple-Inland, Menasha and PacifiCorp. 3E was founded in 1988 and is the recipient of the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Commitment to Worker Safety Awards in Online and MSDS Services from Compliance Magazine, which also recognized 3E Online-MSDS in 2005 with an Award of Excellence for its Best of the Web Awards. The privately held company is headquartered in Carlsbad, CA with additional operations in Bethesda, Md., Kingsport, Tenn., and Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information on 3E Company, visit www.3ecompany.com, send e-mail to info@3ecompany.com or call 800-360-3220.