California Environmental Reporting System (CERS)

The following guidance is provided for regulated businesses/facilities to assist with electronic submittal.

Changes to Hazardous Materials Business Plan Submittal Requirements – AB 1429(PDF, 57KB)

For more information regarding changes to AB 1429, visit our HMBP page

Create an Account: 

  1. Go to https://cers.calepa.ca.gov/ 
  2. Select Business Portal Sign-in
  3. Select "Create New Account"
  4. Fill out form and select "Create Account"
  5. You will then receive an automated email message from CalEPA/CERS to activate your account. If you do not receive one, check your spam or junk folder. Click on the link in the email to activate your account. If you don't receive the email, please contact CERS Technical Support at cers@calepa.ca.gov

Accessing an Existing Facility:

Once your account is created in CERS, do not add a new facility. First check to see if your business/facility is already in CERS. Your CERS ID can be found on your Business Activities form on the eHazMat portal. If you can't find your CERS ID, please contact us before adding a new facility.

If the facility already has a CERS ID number, select “Search Existing Business/Facility”.

  1. Add as much specific information as possible (i.e. just CERS ID number or just number part of facility address, and select “Search”
  2. Once the facility has been found, select the green link on the right hand side of the screen that says “Request Access” (Wait for your designated CUPA inspector to email you) 
  3. Complete the questionnaire regarding phone number and title, select “Request Access”
  4. The Lead User of the business/facility must grant access to the user. Contact your designated CUPA Inspector if the lead user has left the business or is unsure of how to grant access.

Adding a New Facility:

If your business/facility is not in CERS, you can proceed with adding a new facility by selecting “Add New Facility/Business”

  1. Provide Address and Facility Name
  2. Select "Continue" after facility has been saved to CERS

Facility Information:

  1. Complete questions for Business Activities and select “Save”
  2. Fill out Business Owner/Operator Identification and select “Save”

All elements must be filled in with up-to-date and correct information. If the certification regarding Name/Title of Document Preparer/Signer is not completed, the submittal element may be “Not Accepted” by your Inspector.

Hazardous Materials Inventory:

You may complete your Hazardous Materials Inventory by manually inputting the material or uploading an Excel file. 

Adding Chemical Inventory Manually:

  1. Click on “Add Material”. Locate material and click on the most appropriate item in the results table, complete the corresponding form for each chemical in your inventory
  2. If the material is not found in the CERS Chemical Library, select “Unable to Find Material/Add New Chemical” to add your material to your inventory using Safety Data Sheets (SDS). 

*Reliable entries for waste items are not in the chemical library. A new material page will need to be created individually for each waste stream. All components must be completed*

 Uploading Inventory From Excel:

  1. Select “Upload Inventory”
  2. Download the CERS Hazardous Materials upload Template
    1. The file size is limited to 500 inventory items
    2. If your file exceeds this limit, separate into groups of 200 chemicals, then use the “Replace/Append to Existing Inventory” function of the upload page to run the various functions.
  3. Copy and paste your data into the template

Site Map:

The facility site map must be a document created by the user and uploaded into the respective section.

  1. To upload a copy of the Site Map, locate and click the Site Map section under the Hazardous Materials Inventory Section. Click “Browse”, locate the PDF copy of your site map saved to your computer
  2. Select “Upload”
  3. Select “Save and Finish”

You may use this Site Map Template(DOC, 99KB) to help guide you and include the required information

Emergency Response and Employee Training Plan:

You may use an existing Emergency Response Plan if all the corresponding information is current and complete.

Uploading a Copy of Emergency Response/Contingency Plan

  1. Locate your PDF copy by utilizing the “Browse” button in the Emergency Response/Contingency Plan section.
  2. Select “Save and Upload”
  3. Select “Save and Finish”

Uploading a Copy of Employee Training Plan

  1. Locate your PDF copy by utilizing the “Browse” button in the Employee Training Plan section
  2. Select “Save and Upload”
  3. Select “Save and Finish”

You may use this Contingency Plan(PDF, 360KB) for your submittal (our local numbers have been added).

You may use this Employee Training Record(PDF, 81KB) for your submittal. 

*If you choose to use the CERS Contingency Plan/Employee Training section for employee training plan, select provided elsewhere in CERS, then select Emergency Response Training Plan.*

Acceptance Process:

Once your facility’s information has been submitted, it will be placed in our queue for review to be “Accepted” or “Not Accepted.”

If incorrect data is submitted and is deemed “Not Accepted” by your designated CUPA inspector, an automated email will be sent to the Lead Users for that Business/Facility and will be pending resubmittal with corrections within 30 days.


 Complete annual submittals in CERS and employee documentation is now required. 

For a video walkthrough of the CERS process (provided by San Diego County CUPA), please see video below:

CERS Related Documents: