Today we are going to talk about some pictograms, those are used on labels to alert chemical users hazards that they may be exposed. The hazard pictograms consist of a symbol on white background within red boarder and represents a distinct hazard. The hazard pictograms are from the international Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Hereon we would list some commons related to our industry regarding to physical and health:
Explosive (Symbol: exploding bomb)
Unstable explosives
Explosives, divisions 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6
Self-reactive substances and mixtures, types A, B
Organic peroxides, types A, B
Flammable (Symbol: flame)
Flammable gases, category 1
Flammable aerosols, categories 1, 2
Flammable liquids, categories 1, 2, 3, 4
Flammable solids, categories 1, 2
Self-reactive substances and mixtures, types B, C, D, E, F
Pyrophoric liquids, category 1
Pyrophoric solids, category 1
Combustible solids, category 3
Combustible liquids, category 3
Self-heating substances and mixtures, categories 1, 2
Substances and mixtures, which in contact with water, emit flammable gases, categories 1, 2, 3
Organic peroxides, types B, C, D, E, F
Oxidising(Symbol: flame over circle)
Oxidizing gases, category 1
Oxidizing liquids, categories 1, 2, 3
Oxidizing solids, categories 1, 2, 3
Corrosive(Symbol: Corrosion)
Explosives, divisions 1.5, 1.6
Flammable gases, category 2
Self-reactive substances and mixtures, type G (see HAZMAT Class 4 Flammable solids）
Organic peroxides, type G
Skin corrosion, categories 1A, 1B, 1C
Serious eye damage, category 1
Acute toxicity (Symbol: Skull and crossbones)
Acute toxicity (oral, dermal, inhalation), categories 1, 2, 3
Hazardous to the environment(Symbol: Dead tree and fish)
Acute hazards to the aquatic environment, category 1
Chronic hazards to the aquatic environment, categories 1, 2
Environmental toxicity, categories 1, 2
Hazard pictograms are one part of the labeling of containers, those are widely used in different industries. To us, we always use some of them on the labeling of our products, just to inform our clients and users about the type of material that storing in our products:
Take our most common product line of safety cabinet as an example, here we can see the labeling of this cabinet is using the sign of flammable, which means the liquid with flash point temperature between 0 and 140°F (60 °C). And depends on the complex chemical characteristics of different material, additional config like ventilation or fire extinguishing system would be needed for fire hazard. And according to the EN standard, the cabinet is painted in yellow.
And for this cabinet we can tell from the label that the chemical stored inside is corrosive when referring to the effect of living tissues.
It can be poison, cause chemical burn and distinct damage, even rusting to metal.
Some type of corrosion creates corrosive mists when contacting air. Sc depends on the chemical, we have solutions like PP tray, PP lining, ventilation system to reduce the hazard of corrosion.
According to the standard, the cabinet color is blue.
For narcotic storage cabinet, we use toxic symbol on our labeling, which shows the material inside would be harmful to living health, the control of this kind of material would be extremely strict, so usually the lock system is updated and normally calls for two operators. And depends on the toxic chemicals inside, different systems are available, too. According to the standard, the cabinet color is light gray.
For any industries, working areas or products involved with those hazard pictograms, people working around need to pay special attention to them, and when there is hazard around you in your working area, you need to learn some basic knowledge to protect yourself for your own safety. that is the basic of working safe and healthy.
