OTHER RECOGNIZED LABELING STANDARDS

Five other special purpose labeling systems should be mentioned in a handbook on the subject of precautionary labeling. These are the National Fire Protection Association (l PA) 704 system, the National Institute for Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) system, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) proposal, the NPCA Paint Label Guide, the NPCA Hazardous Materials Information System (HMIS) and ANSI a jimct systems by the J. 

Baker Chemical Company and the Fisher Scientific Company. 

NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION—IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM NFPA 704 FIRE HAZARDS OF MATERIALS—1980 

The 704 system is designed to convey information on Health, Fire and Reactivity effects to firemen fighting a fire that involves chemicals. 

This standard was first tentatively adopted in 1960, officially adopted by the National Fire Protection Association in 1961, and revised in 1964,1966,1975 and 1980. It grew out of development work begun in 1952 by the NFPA sectional committee on Classification, Labeling, and Properties of Flammable Liquids. As originally conceived, this standard is to safeguard the lives of those who are concerned with fires and fire control and prevention, in industrial plants or storage locations. It is particularly useful where the fire hazards of materials may not be readily apparent. 

---

Analytical reagents used in testing the excipients should be prepared and labeled following established procedures. Retest or expiration dates should be used, as appropriate, for analytical reagents, or standard solutions. Analytical methods should be validated unless the method employed is set forth in the current revision of the United States Pharmacopeia/National Formulary, Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), Book of Methods, or other recognized standard references, or detailed in the Drug Master File or approved New Drug Application and are used unmodified. 

Equipment or materials to which is attached a specified label, symbol, or other identifying mark of an inspection agency, nationally recognized testing laboratory, or organization acceptable to the authority having jurisdietion and coneerned with product evaluation that maintains periodic inspection of the production of labeled equipment or materials. The provision of a label by the manufacturer on a fire proteetion product indicates compliance with appropriate standards or performance in a speeified manner for fire safety. See also Approved Classified Factory Mutual (FM) Listed Underwriters Laboratories (UL). 

A number of Federal Specifications covering materials or appliances of classes which are under the supervision of Underwriters Laboratories recognize the Laboratories UL label as compliance with the applicable requirements and standards. In its work with standardization, the UL cooperates with many other organizations such as ANSI, NFPA, and ASTM. 

OSHA s standard at 1910.303(b)(2), Installation and Use, requires that Listed or labeled equipment shall be Installed and used in accordance with any instructions included In the listing or labeling. Manufacturers and nationally recognized testing laboratories determine the proper uses for power strips. For example, the UL Directory contains instructions that require UL-listed RPTs to be directly connected to a permanently Installed branch circuit receptacle they are not to be series-connected to other RPTs or connected to extension cords. UL also specifies that RPTs are not intended for use at construction sites and similar locations. 

To recognize occupational factors or stresses, a health and safety professional must first know about the chemicals used as raw materials and the nature of the products and by-products manufactured. This sometimes requires great effort. The required information can be obtained from the material safety data sheet (MSDS), which must be supplied by the chanical manufacturer or importer to the purchaser for all hazardous materials under the hazard conununication standard. The MSDS is a summary of the important health, safety, and toxicological information on the chanical or the mixture ingredients. Other stipulations of the hazard communication standard require that all containers of hazardous substances in the workplace be labeled with appropriate warning and identification labels. If the MSDS or the label does not give complete information but only trade names, it may be necessary to contact the mannfacturer of the chemicals to obtain this information. 

---