scope:

This standard shall address the health, flammability, reactivity, and related hazards that may be presented by short-term, acute exposure to a material during handling under conditions of fire, spill, or similar emergencies.

This standard provides a simple, readily recognized, easily understood system of markings that provides a general idea of the hazards of a material and the severity of these hazards as they relate to handling, fire prevention, exposure, and control. The objectives of the system are:

(a) to provide an appropriate signal or alert and on-the-spot information to safeguard the lives of both public and private emergency response personnel;

(b) to assist in planning for effective fire and emergency control operations, including clean-up;

(c) to assist all designated personnel, engineers, plant and safety personnel in evaluating hazards;

It is recognized that local conditions will have a bearing on evaluation of hazards; therefore, discussion must be kept in general terms.