You may have seen recent changes in the labelling of substances and chemicals in the workplace. These are a result of recent European Legislation on the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) of Substances. The EU is adopting the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) of labelling as developed in the United Nations. Labels are changing in a phased manner up to June 2015, by which time all stock and new products in your workplace should have the new graphics.
The biggest change is the loss of the familiar orange boxes. It was always easy to identify a hazardous material from the conspicuous orange box and black cross. Now all symbols are diamond-shaped, have a white background with red border and an image to describe the hazard. There are pictograms for substances that are toxic, under pressure, irritating to the skin, flammable, explosive, harmful to the environment, are oxidising agents, cause respiratory/carcinogenic danger or are corrosive. There is no longer a ‘generic hazard’ symbol.
The new images you need to be aware of can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/detail/coshh-clp-reach.htm