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European hazard symbols for chemicals are pictograms defined by the European Union for labelling chemical packaging (for storage and workplace) and containers (for transportation). They are standardised currently by the CLP/GHS classification.
The hazard symbols for chemicals were defined in Annex II of Directive 67/548/EEC. A consolidated list with translations into other EU languages was found in Directive 2001/59/EC (see § References).
| Hazard pictogram & mention, code | Substances examples |
|---|---|
 Explosive (E) | TNT, acetone peroxide, nitroglycerin, picric acid |
 Extremely Flammable (F+) | Hydrogen, acetylene, propane, butane, diethyl ether, carbon disulfide, acetaldehyde |
 Highly Flammable (F) | Ethanol, acetone, gasoline, hexamine, methanol |
 Oxidizing (O) | Oxygen, potassium nitrate, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, potassium permanganate |
 Toxic (T) | Sulfuric acid, TNT, Nitroglycerin, carbon disulfide, methanol, ammonia, formaldehyde |
 Very toxic (T+) | Prussic acid, nicotine, carbon monoxide, white phosphorus |
 Harmful (Xn) | Hexamine, butane, naphtha, acetaldehyde |
 Irritant (Xi) | Sodium hypochlorite, acetone, ethanol |
 Corrosive (C) | Sulfuric acid, Nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonia, White phosphorus |
 Dangerous for the environment (N) | Sulfuric acid, turpentine, lead, mercury, Crude oil |
The 'n' in Harmful (Xn) stands for the French word nocif (harmful) and the Italian word nocivo (noxious).
 Block magnet |  Explosive |  Poison |  Ionizing radiation |  Suspended load |  Truck driving |
 Self ignition |  Electromagnetic radiation |  Tripping danger |  Falling hazard |  Biohazard |  Health danger and irritant |
 Dangerous batteries |  Explosive atmosphere |  Pinch |  Can tip over when moving |  Automatic Startup |  Hand pinching |
 Slippery |  Driven by conveyor belt inside the track |  Entanglement hazard |  Corrosive |  Gas bottle |  Cold |
 Laser radiation |  Potential danger |  Flammable |  Electrical danger |  Hot surface |  Magnetic field |
 Optical radiation | |||||
A safety data sheet (SDS), material safety data sheet (MSDS), or product safety data sheet (PSDS) is a document that lists information relating to occupational safety and health for the use of various substances and products. SDSs are a widely used system for cataloguing information on chemicals, chemical compounds, and chemical mixtures. SDS information may include instructions for the safe use and potential hazards associated with a particular material or product, along with spill-handling procedures. The older MSDS formats could vary from source to source within a country depending on national requirements; however, the newer SDS format is internationally standardized.
Hazard symbols or warning symbols are recognisable symbols designed to warn about hazardous or dangerous materials, locations, or objects, including electric currents, poisons, and radioactivity. The use of hazard symbols is often regulated by law and directed by standards organizations. Hazard symbols may appear with different colors, backgrounds, borders, and supplemental information in order to specify the type of hazard and the level of threat. Warning symbols are used in many places in lieu of or addition to written warnings as they are quickly recognized and more commonly understood.
Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials.
Risk and Safety Statements, also known as R/S statements, R/S numbers, R/S phrases, and R/S sentences, is a system of hazard codes and phrases for labeling dangerous chemicals and compounds. The R/S statement of a compound consists of a risk part (R) and a safety part (S), each followed by a combination of numbers. Each number corresponds to a phrase. The phrase corresponding to the letter/number combination has the same meaning in different languages—see 'languages' in the menu on the left.
The Dangerous Substances Directive was one of the main European Union laws concerning chemical safety, until its full replacement by the new regulation CLP Regulation (2008), starting in 2016. It was made under Article 100 of the Treaty of Rome. By agreement, it is also applicable in the EEA, and compliance with the directive will ensure compliance with the relevant Swiss laws. The Directive ceased to be in force on 31 May 2015 and was repealed by Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.
ADR, formally the Agreement of 30 September 1957 concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road, is a 1957 United Nations treaty that governs transnational transport of hazardous materials. "ADR" is derived from the French name for the treaty: Accord relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route). Until 31 December 2020, the treaty was fully named European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road. However, as the word "European" might have given the impression that the treaty was only open for accession to European states, an amendment was decided in the end of 2019.
The European Community number is a unique seven-digit identifier that was assigned to substances for regulatory purposes within the European Union by the European Commission. The EC Inventory comprises three individual inventories, EINECS, ELINCS and the NLP list.
International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSC) are data sheets intended to provide essential safety and health information on chemicals in a clear and concise way. The primary aim of the Cards is to promote the safe use of chemicals in the workplace and the main target users are therefore workers and those responsible for occupational safety and health. The ICSC project is a joint venture between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) with the cooperation of the European Commission (EC). This project began during the 1980s with the objective of developing a product to disseminate the appropriate hazard information on chemicals at the workplace in an understandable and precise way.
The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is an internationally agreed-upon standard managed by the United Nations that was set up to replace the assortment of hazardous material classification and labelling schemes previously used around the world. Core elements of the GHS include standardized hazard testing criteria, universal warning pictograms, and harmonized safety data sheets which provide users of dangerous goods with a host of information. The system acts as a complement to the UN Numbered system of regulated hazardous material transport. Implementation is managed through the UN Secretariat. Although adoption has taken time, as of 2017, the system has been enacted to significant extents in most major countries of the world. This includes the European Union, which has implemented the United Nations' GHS into EU law as the CLP Regulation, and United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 is a United Kingdom Statutory Instrument which states general requirements imposed on employers to protect employees and other persons from the hazards of substances used at work by risk assessment, control of exposure, health surveillance and incident planning. There are also duties on employees to take care of their own exposure to hazardous substances and prohibitions on the import of certain substances into the European Economic Area. The regulations reenacted, with amendments, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Work Regulations 1999 and implement several European Union directives.
The European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) was the focal point for the data and assessment procedure on dangerous chemicals within the European Union (EU). The ECB was located in Ispra, Italy, under the responsibility of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. In 2008 the ECB completed its mandate. Some of its activities were taken over by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA); others remained within the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Health & Consumer Protection (IHCP). Tasks of the former ECB still managed by JRC-IHCP include: the Review Programme on the risk assessment of Biocides, the development of a methodology for the future Regulation on the Prioritisation of Chemical Substances and its corresponding Environmental Quality Standards (EQS); the harmonisation of testing methods and 'non-testing methods'.
The CLP Regulation is a European Union regulation from 2008, which aligns the European Union system of classification, labelling and packaging of chemical substances and mixtures to the Globally Harmonised System (GHS). It is expected to facilitate global trade and the harmonised communication of hazard information of chemicals and to promote regulatory efficiency. It complements the 2006 Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation and replaces the current system contained in the Dangerous Substances Directive (67/548/EEC) and the Dangerous Preparations Directive (1999/45/EC).
The regulation of chemicals is the legislative intent of a variety of national laws or international initiatives such as agreements, strategies or conventions. These international initiatives define the policy of further regulations to be implemented locally as well as exposure or emission limits. Often, regulatory agencies oversee the enforcement of these laws.
Hazard statements form part of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). They are intended to form a set of standardized phrases about the hazards of chemical substances and mixtures that can be translated into different languages. As such, they serve the same purpose as the well-known R-phrases, which they are intended to replace.
Precautionary statements form part of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). They are intended to form a set of standardized phrases giving advice about the correct handling of chemical substances and mixtures, which can be translated into different languages. As such, they serve the same purpose as the well-known S-phrases, which they are intended to replace.
Hazard pictograms form part of the international Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Two sets of pictograms are included within the GHS: one for the labelling of containers and for workplace hazard warnings, and a second for use during the transport of dangerous goods. Either one or the other is chosen, depending on the target audience, but the two are not used together. The two sets of pictograms use the same symbols for the same hazards, although certain symbols are not required for transport pictograms. Transport pictograms come in wider variety of colors and may contain additional information such as a subcategory number.
Reproductive toxicity is a hazard associated with some chemical substances, which interfere in some way with normal reproduction; such substances are called reprotoxic. They may adversely affect sexual function and fertility in adult males and females, as well as causing developmental toxicity in the offspring. Reproductive toxicity is usually defined practically, to include several different effects which are unrelated to each other except in their outcome of lowered effective fertility. The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) separates reproductive toxicity from germ cell mutagenicity and carcinogenicity, even though both these hazards may also affect fertility.
Technical Guidance WM2: Hazardous Waste: Interpretation of the definition and classification of hazardous waste is a guidance document developed and jointly published by the English Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to provide guidance on the assessment and classification of hazardous waste based on the revised Waste Framework Directive definition of hazardous waste. Waste producers, consultants, contractors and waste management companies use the guidance to a) identify the correct waste code for their waste and b) determine whether the waste is hazardous or not based on its chemical composition.
Safety signs are a type of sign designed to warn of hazards, indicate mandatory actions or required use of Personal protective equipment, prohibit actions or objects, identify the location of firefighting or safety equipment, or marking of exit routes.
Media related to Safety signs and Warning signs at Wikimedia Commons Media related to DIN 4844-2 warning signs and ISO 7010 safety signs at Wikimedia Commons