Read the label and safety data sheet before use

The label carries one signal word: «Danger» for the most hazardous substances/mixtures or «Warning» for the less hazardous. The signal word is the first thing you should notice — it tells you how careful you need to be.

There are nine red/white hazard pictograms. The most common on cleaning chemicals are GHS05 (corrosive), GHS07 (irritant — exclamation mark), GHS08 (chronic health hazard) and GHS09 (hazardous to the environment). Note that GHS04 (gas under pressure) is forgotten in some incomplete overviews — there are 9 in total.

H statements (hazard statements) tell you what the hazard is; P statements (precautionary statements) tell you how to protect yourself. Both must appear on both the label and the safety data sheet — read them before you open the product.

For hazardous products there is a safety data sheet (SDS) with 16 fixed sections. Section 8 (exposure controls/personal protection) tells you which gloves, goggles and, if needed, respiratory protection you must use. With corrosive/sensitising agents, the glove must be impermeable to that particular substance.

Read section 4 (first aid) and section 6 (accidental release measures) BEFORE you need them. Then you know immediately what to do with a splash in the eye or a spill — instead of searching while the damage is happening.

Follow section 7 (handling and storage): store chemicals in their original packaging with an intact label, separate from food, and keep incompatible agents (e.g. chlorine and acidic products) apart. Never decant chemicals into unlabelled bottles.

The employer must have a chemical risk assessment and instruct employees in the products they use. The separate workplace instruction sheet was abolished on 1 July 2019, but the risk assessment with a register of hazardous substances, the duty to instruct and the SDS obligation remain (BEK no. 581/2026). Register the product in the chemical/SDS register.