Good point, Bradley. The firemen who inspected the lab recently wanted an NFPA fire diamond with "0,0,0" on the 600-gallon DI water tank, I can understand that. Of course they don't care about the DI wash bottles on the bench (although they did notice the one that was labeled HIV - for the lab section). Our Chemical Hygiene Plan has a list of lab-specific acronyms and abbreviations right up front. But that still doesn't really solve that shorthand labeling problem we see from time to time. [But then everyone in the lab seems to know what a container that's labeled "128" is, right? (it's vesphene diluted down 1:128).] Thanks to this discussion string, I'll be creating reagent-specific label templates for things we make up all the time - like the profiled hazardous waste streams. It's a complex field folks. (Hope you don't mind that I used a few undefined acronyms.) http://www.acronymslist.com/ Top Five: Chemistry Acronyms (14383) NASA Acronyms (8940) Uncategorized Acronyms (5754) Atmospheric Research Center Acronyms (4622) Text Language Acronyms And Abbreviations (1855) Eric Clark, MS, CCHO, CHMM Safety & Compliance Officer Los Angeles County Public Health Lab >>> Bradley Harris4/2/2010 8:15 AM >>> Using Abbreviations should be dependent on several items, including hazard levels, and the amount of chemical. For example, a small container with non hazardous chemicals used in a small laboratory could have an abbreviati on. If there is a gallon, or 55 gallons of the same chemical the container should have a full label. teaching abbreviations in school seems to undermine the information given from the full chemical name. Brad On Apr 1, 2010, at 9:20 PM, Alan Hall wrote: > Use simple chemical formulas: NaCN, KCN, Ca2Cn2, etc, I won't argue: use abbreviations that might kill somebody, BAD idea. > > Whoever has to walk into a HAZMAT incident doesn't have time to look for a bunch of abbreviations. Lives may be on the line. The AHLS Course stresses some of that. Those who have not worn Level A or Level B might consider that others have and will continue to due so. Bad labels, some of us might be invoked, whether needed or not. > > Alan > ahalltoxic**At_Symbol_Here**msn.com > > > Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 19:50:48 -0400 > From: JAKSAFETY**At_Symbol_Here**AOL.COM > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Abbreviations > To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU > > One of the major problems is going to be distinguishing TLAs from FLAs. ... Jim > > ********************************** > James A. Kaufman, Ph.D. > Kaufman & Associates > 101 Oak Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 > 508-574-6264 Fax: 508-647-0062 > Res: 781-237-1335 > > > >
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