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Chemical storage requires a reaction

New legislation controlling the way chemicals and hazardous substances are packaged has now been introduced.

Under the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) of Substances and Mixtures Regulations, all household and industrial chemical products must display revised hazard symbols that are part of the Global Harmonisation System; updated safety data sheets must also accompany them.
The new CLP regulations replace the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2009 and all chemical manufacturers have had to abide by them since 1st June 2015. However, distributors and users of the products have until 1st June 2017 before they have to use or dispose of any substances that still display the old-style labelling.
“The new CLP hazard labels feature nine pictograms that look similar to the old labels but the familiar orange backgrounds have been replaced with black symbols, in red diamond shaped boxes on white backgrounds,” said Lee Wright, group sales and marketing director of workplace equipment supplier Slingsby. “High-risk products will also display the words ‘danger’ or ‘warning’ on the labels and new disposal phrases have also been added.
“The main symbols identify substances that are toxic, flammable, explosive, corrosive and cause skin and eye irritations as well as environmental damage. There are also a couple of new ones for products containing pressurised gas or substances that are known to cause serious longer term health problems, hazards such as carcinogenicity and respiratory diseases.
“Workplaces that use these substances still have approximately twelve months to use up any products that feature the old labelling but any organisations that hold large stocks of chemical products need to stay on top of their stock rotation and ensure they use the old products first.”