Labeling of Workplace Substances

The School handles and stores a vast spectrum of material ranging from a few microlitres of cells in liquid nitrogen through all manner of dangerous/hazardous chemicals and biological material up to live animals. There are many reasons for accurate understandable labeling but the most pressing are: scientific validity, safety and satisfying the requirements of bodies such as the OGTR and AQIS.

• Australian Standard - Storage of Chemicals - AS/NZS 2243.10:2004
• Policy
• Small Containers
• Chemical Formula
• Labeling Systems
• Label Material
• Decanted Chemicals and Reagents
• Reagents Made "In the Lab"
• Biological Material
• Food Stuffs for Research
• Templates for chemical labels
• Acknowledgement

Policy

All material in the school must have an adequate label; an adequate label must offer a third party a path to full knowledge of the contents. This may be by the content information or name of the "owner", who can provide this information, being on the label. The School reserves the right to dispose of any material without a label that absolutely identifies the contents and/or the owner.

The minimum label on an item of non hazardous/dangerous material will identify the owner. All hazardous/dangerous material will be packaged in such a way that it has a label of sufficient size to clearly identify the contents and their hazard status.

Small Containers

We have a lot of material in very small vials and tubes. It being virtually impossible to put an informative label on such containers they must be labeled in some way that identifies their "owner". All such tubes must be presumed to be hazardous without definitive information to the contrary.

Chemical Formula

We are advised by Worksafe SA: that given the education level of our laboratory operatives the use of chemical formula, to identify components of reagents, is acceptable in some cases. The formula must unambiguously identify the chemical; therefore only simple inorganic chemicals are appropriate. For example: H2SO4 identifies sulphuric acid, C12H22O11 is the empirical formula for sucrose but other organic substances have the same formula.

Labeling Systems

Legislation and Australian Standards have two major procedures for presenting safety information on labels:

1. Dangerous Goods Classifications, usually depicted by one or more of a set of signs.
2. A set of Phrases covering:
   • Risk (Health)
   • Risk (Physiochemical)
   • Safety

All staff working in our labs must have a sufficient knowledge of these systems, to understand the information presented, therefore how to work with the substances and how to label, using these systems, reagents they make themselves.

Every effort should be made include the appropriate dangerous goods class and the correct risk and safety phrases on each label. It is very difficult to include the phrases on anything but the largest of labels but each phrase is identified by a three character code. If the codes are included on the label then a poster, to decode them, in the lab is a practical alternative.

Label Material

Label material should be of sufficient substance to remain readable. Texta is a very marginal material to label anything that may be any way hazardous.You may know what was in the bottle but what about other persons? Once the material in a bottle can not be identified it is extremely difficult and expensive to dispose of.

Decanted Chemicals and Reagents

All decanted chemicals (i.e. chemicals you have put in another container without changing them in any way), that are classed as "Dangerous Goods" or have any hazard potential, must be labeled with full safety information as required by regulation.  If the substance is in its original bottle this information will be on the label if not consult the "chemwatch" database. Chemwatch can provide, regulation compliant, labels for the substances it lists; these are the best option for decanted chemicals.

Any "dangerous" substance which you may change slightly, such as 70% ethanol, must also be clearly labeled so it can not be misused.
See the Safety Co-ordinator for any assistance on this matter.

An Ideal Label would contain:

1. The appropriate DG symbol if applicable.
2. The substance/reagent name.
3. The chemical/s name/s or ingredient names for reagents (Note: only hazardous/dangerous ingredients need to be shown, this will depend on their concentration).
4. Risk and Safety phrase information.
5. Bottlers Name
6. Date Bottled

Reagents Made "In the Lab"

Depending on:

• The hazard level of the substance (See Classification of Hazardous Substances and Mixtures of Hazardous Substances (School of Medical & Biomedical Sciences) to help asses this)
• The "life" of the substance

From the above the information needed on the label can be decided

An ideal label would include (numbered according to priority):

• The chemical/s name/s or ingredient names for reagents (Note: only hazardous/dangerous ingredients need to be shown, this will depend on their concentration).
• Bottlers Name
• Date Bottled
• The Dangerous Goods class Symbol if applicable.
• Risk and Safety phrase information.
• The reagent name.
• The concentration of the ingredients (if applicable)

Biological Material

Only hazardous material needs to be labeled for safety reasons, but the OGTR and AQIS demand labeling systems: that prevent any possibility of confusion. The School Biosafety Officer reserves the right to dispose of any material from a PC1, PC2 or Quarantine area that can not be identified.

Sterile non hazardous media needs only a label sufficient to identify it which may be none if, for example, the caps are colour coded. For cultures an ideal label would contain:

1. Culture name or a personal reference number
2. Owners name
3. Date

Food Stuffs for Research

Templates for chemical labels

As a minimum requirement, all chemicals prepared in the laboratory must have the full name of the chemical, hazard warnings, dangerous goods code (if applicable), the person who prepared the chemical and the date prepared. This template has been designed for use with Avery CR14 labels.

• Container Capacity - Greater than 500 mL(g)
• Container Capacity - Equal to or less than 500 mL(g)
• Mixtures - Greater than 500 mL(g)
• Mixtures - Equal to or less than 500 mL(g)
• Waste Liquid - Winchester Bottle
• Waste Liquid - 20 L Container
• Waste Liquid - Small Container
• Non Hazardous, Non Dangerous Substance
• Not for Human Consumption
• Research Purposes Only

Acknowledgement

• Material in this page supplied by Tony Richardson, School of Medical & Biomedical Sciences