Emergency Door Placards

An emergency placard needs to be on the door of each lab on campus.  Below are instructions for filling out the placard for your lab.

 

 

1.  NFPA Fire Diamond

 

 

Blue -- Health

 Red -- Flammability

 Yellow -- Reactivity

 4

 Extreme -- Highly Toxic.  May be fatal on short-term exposure.  Special protective equipment required.   

Extreme -- Extremely flammable gas or liquid.  Flash point below 73°F.   

Extreme -- Explosive at room temperature.

 3

Serious -- Toxic.  Avoid inhalation or skin contact.   

Serious -- Flammable.  Flash point 73-100°F.   

Serious -- May explode if shocked, heated under confinement or mixed with water.

 2

Moderate -- Moderately Toxic.  May be harmful if inhaled or absorbed.   

Moderate -- Combustible.  Requires moderate heating to ignite 100°-200°F   

Moderate -- Unstable.  May react with water.

 1

Slight -- Slightly toxic.  May cause slight irritation.

Slight -- Slightly combustible.  Requires strong heating to ignite.   

Slight -- May react if heated or mixed with water.

 0

Minimal  -- All chemicals have some degree of toxicity.   

Minimal -- Will not burn under normal conditions.

Minimal -- Normally stable.  Does not react with water.

 

 

WHITE -- Special

OXY 

 Oxidizing Agent

 W

 Water Reactive

 G

 Compressed Gas

LN2

 Liquid Nitrogen

 LHe

 Liquid Helium

 

2.  Hazard stickers.  EH&S has various stickers available, including (but not limited to) carcinogen, radioactive, oxidizer, flammable liquid, corrosive, and poison.  Please contact Mary Duda for these stickers.

The information for these two sections (NFPA diamond and stickers) can usually be found on the bottle or MSDS for each chemical.

The placard needs to be filled out for the worst-case scenario.  Therefore, you need to put the most severe rating in your lab for each category on the NFPA Diamond, as well as indicating "Special" information and signage, regardless of how much is in the lab.

3.  Emergency contact numbers.   Primary contact should be whoever will know best what is in that lab in case of emergency (graduate student, lab technician, etc.).  Secondary contact should be the primary investigator.  EH&S contact information is already printed on the placard.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact EH&S.