Chemical Labels

This section looks at the labelling of –

• Purchased chemicals – new chemicals
• Decanted chemicals – laboratory stock materials
• Synthesised chemicals for research
• Waste materials

Purchased chemical material should already be labelled correctly.  Therefore, little needs to be done.  However, some internationally sourced materials will lack some of the required information.  The labels should also be in English.  If information is lacking or not in English, consider returning to the supplier or relabel with the required information below.  Full information should be available in the Material Safety Data Sheet.

Decanted materials should have similar information to that supplied on the original label, since these materials are usually kept for reasonable periods of time.

The Chemwatch MSDS database has the ability to create labels for specific chemicals on its database.

Other chemical materials should be labelled with the essential information, including –

• The research area/group (or manufacturer) the material originated from.
• The Dangerous Goods class of the material and a signal word (ie. flammable, corrosive etc).
• Whether the material is a hazardous substance or not.
• The substance name or names with their appropriate United Nations (UN) number (if available) or CAS registry number (if available).  These are available from the material safety data sheet.
• The relevant risk (http://www.nohsc.gov.au/OHSInformation/NOHSCPublications/fulltext/docs/h5/506.htm http://www.nohsc.gov.au/OHSInformation/NOHSCPublications/fulltext/docs/h5/514.htm ) and safety phrases (http://www.nohsc.gov.au/OHSInformation/NOHSCPublications/fulltext/docs/h5/508.htm http://www.nohsc.gov.au/OHSInformation/NOHSCPublications/fulltext/docs/h5/517.htm ) are available from the MSDS or summary document.

Example labels are available.  However, they need to be modified for each research group/department and printed on the correct size labels (see the header of the page).  Dangerous Goods symbols can be inserted as required.  A colour printer is required.  An example of a research chemical label (small bottles, < 100 g/ml) and stock container label (bottles > 250 g/ml) are available.  Once affixed to the bottle, the labels should be covered with clear contact film or similar to provide some resistance to external chemicals.
Hand written labels are acceptable, as long as they have the required information.
Example waste chemical container labels and requirements for the common contractor collected wastes are available in the hazardous waste disposal guidelines.

For further information contact:
Stephen Altree-Williams, e-mail: Stephen.Altree-Williams@anu.edu.au