ACS News
COMMENT
George J. O'Neill, chairman Committee on Chemical Safety
A novel idea for communicating health and safety data Flammable. Danger—Poison. Warning—Corrosive Liquid. Warning—Contact With Other Material May Cause Fire. These are typical statements that many chemical suppliers put on some of the package labels of their products to alert laboratory chemists, technicians, students, teachers, and workers to the potential hazards associated with handling, storing, and using chemicals. The warnings attract attention but say nothing about the type and degree of danger that users and handlers may face and give no indications of what could be done to minimize the potential hazards. Most people who need facts about the seriousness of a chemical hazard and how to cope with it will have to search the literature or consult with an expert. However, experience has shown few will go to the trouble of digging up the information they need to know to handle, store, and use potentially hazardous substances safely. When it comes to the need to know about the hazards of chemicals, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration and several state legislatures have gone one step further. They assert anyone handling or working with a chemical has a right to know about its hazardous characteristics and what protective equipment is needed to minimize the hazards. OSHA-proposed rules on hazard communication and labeling will give greater attention to those employees who handle and work with hazardous materials. By the end of 1983, an estimated 23 states will have enacted some form of right-to-know laws. According to recent surveys of safety experts, industrial chemists, and
ACS is partner in teleport venture The American Chemical Society, through the Chemical Abstracts Service division, has joined with Ohio State University, CompuServe Inc., and M & R Cos. to form Columbus Teleport Corp. The stated purpose of the corporation is to build and operate a telecommunication^ facility in Columbus for transmitting and re-
chemistry teachers attending safety education courses, what is needed is a method for key health and safety data to be available readily and understood easily by someone who has no comprehension of chemical hazards or how to deal with them. One answer to the need for communicating the hazards a chemical presents is to print the pertinent facts on the package label for the product. This novel labeling concept is being introduced commercially by the laboratory products division of J. T. Baker Chemical Co., a major supplier of reagents for industrial, research, academic, and hospital laboratories. The Baker SAF-T-DATA labeling system incorporates practices and classification criteria recognized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the U.S. Coast Guard. It was reviewed by officials at OSHA and NIOSH to affirm the clarity of understanding of the labels and compliance with current or planned regulations, and to determine if there was any conflict with other known systems. The system classifies a substance in each of four categories—health, flammability, reactivity, and contact hazard. The relative severity or danger is shown by a numbering system of zero to four for each category. Unique pictograms are used to suggest the personal equipment to be used by the laboratory worker or others handling the substance. Furthermore, the labels are color-coded to suggest the storage of compatible products and the separation of incompatible materials.
ceiving audio, video, and data signals via satellite. The immediate commitment of the corporation is to carry out marketing and engineering studies for the teleport and seek Federal Communications Commission authorization for the transmitter. A decision to proceed will depend on the outcome of the studies and on securing an estimated $2 million to $4 million in working capital for construction and startup. The teleport would operate on a
The NFPA diamond, a symbol required by many city ordinances for hazardous material packages, also is printed on the label. Still cleanup methods are shown as Chemical Abstracts Service numbers, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and International Maritime Organization hazardous waste data. The availability of Material Safety Data Sheets (OSHA Form 20) is also noted in the hazard information panel. I consider the Baker labeling system to be the most complete and informative available with regard to providing key health and safety data that can be understood clearly and can help to reduce the potential hazards of a chemical. The new labels are scheduled to appear on more than 3000 laboratory chemical products and will be very helpful in training chemistry students and new chemical workers to handle, store, and use chemicals without endangering their health. If the Baker labeling system proves to be an effective way to comrrxunicate health and safety data and is a commercial success, other chemical suppliers, no doubt, will be interested in offering a similar system for their products. If this occurs, Baker and other suppliers should make a concerted effort to standardize the important components of the labeling system, for example, color codes for storage, hazard rating, protective equipment suggestions, and pictogram designs. The decision criteria that were employed to arrive at the information printed on the label should be published widely for others to consider in preparing their labels.
profit-making basis and serve as a transmitting and receiving facility for businesses and organizations throughout central Ohio. For ACS and CAS, it would provide significant economies, reduce dependence on existing common carrier networks for data transmission, facilitate communication between Washington and Columbus, and make possible direct data transmission between CAS's Columbus computers and large online service customers. D Nov. 29, 1982 C&EN
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