Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland

Chemical labelling and information

When you receive any chemical it may be supplied with a safety data sheet (SDS). This is sometimes also referred to as a material safety data sheet. The SDS contains information about the chemical including:

how to store and use it safely
chemicals it is incompatible with, eg that you should not store it with
how to dispose of it safely.

When you receive a chemical, check the SDS to find out how to store it safely. If you receive a chemical without an SDS, contact your supplier to find out whether or not they have to provide one.

Understand hazard labels

If the chemical you receive is hazardous it should have a hazard label on it. These labels contain chemical hazard warning symbols that tell you what the risks of a chemical or product are. The hazard label will tell you whether a chemical is:

explosive
an oxidising agent
flammable
toxic
harmful
an irritant
corrosive
dangerous to the environment.

You should ensure that you and your staff are familiar with the hazard labels. You can download guidance on how to find out if chemicals are dangerous from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website.

HSE: Labelling and packaging

Mark vehicles that transport chemicals

If you carry chemicals in your vehicle, you must label your vehicle with the appropriate hazard warning label for those chemicals.

If you transport dangerous chemicals you must meet further requirements for packaging, labelling and documentation.

Northern Ireland: HSENI: Carriage of dangerous goods

Scotland: HSE: Carriage of dangerous goods

Manufacturing and supplying chemicals

If you manufacture or supply chemicals you may need to provide an SDS to your customers. This is now a requirement of the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation. You can download guidance on REACH and SDSs from the HSE website.

HSE: Reach and Safety Data Sheets (PDF, 158K)

If you manufacture or supply chemicals or chemical products you must also package and label them with the appropriate hazard labels.You can find hazard warning label information on the HSE website.

HSE: Labelling and Packaging