Lab Safety

Hazard Label

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has developed a system to indicate the health, flammability, and reactivity hazards of chemicals. In addition, a special precaution symbol may be used.

Hazard Labels

• The NFPA’s hazard labels are shaped like diamonds. The top section reveals the flammability of a substance. The left section indicates a substance’s health hazards. The right section tells how reactive a substance is with other substances.

Flammability

Health

Reactive

Special Hazard Information

Hazard Label

Hazard Label

4- Extreme Hazard

3- Serious Hazard

2- Moderate Hazard

1- Slight Hazard

0- Minimal Hazard

• Numbers ranging from 0 to 4 are recorded in each of the top three diamonds to indicate how dangerous a substance is. A four is the most dangerous, while zero is the least dangerous.

• The bottom section is for special hazard information. It may be empty, but some symbols that can appear in this section are:

Poisonwww.labeline.com

Corrosivewww.Labeline.com

Reacts with watersafety.science.tamu.edu

Lasers being usedsafety.science.tamu.edu

Goggles neededwww.le.ac.uk

Biohazardsafety.science.tamu.edu

Radioactivesafety.science.tamu.edu

Flammablesafety.science.tamu.edu

Cancer Causingsafety.science.tamu.edu

Electric Shock Warningsafety.science.tamu.edu

safety.science.tamu.edu

Reacts with oxygen to form compounds such as oxides.

Why might this be dangerous?

Explosion Hazardsafety.science.tamu.edu