semiatic

GHS09

Environment

Toxic to fish and water life.

A bare, dead tree beside a dead fish lying belly up on the ground.

GHS code
GHS09
Name
Environment
Signal word
Warning, or none for Chronic 2
Old orange symbols (not one-to-one)
N (Dangerous for the environment)

What it warns about

The environment pictogram marks a product that is toxic to fish, water fleas, algae or other aquatic life, either quickly (acute) or over time (long-term). The practical point is disposal: it should not go down a drain or into soil or water. The label and safety data sheet say how to get rid of it.

The pictogram only names the kind of hazard; follow the product’s label and safety data sheet for how to use, store and dispose of it.

The hazard classes it stands for

EU and GB: CLP Regulation, Annex V

  • Hazardous to the aquatic environment, acute category 1
  • Hazardous to the aquatic environment, long-term categories Chronic 1 and Chronic 2

US: OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, Appendix C

  • Not one of OSHA’s eight hazard symbols: environmental hazards are outside the Hazard Communication Standard

A category number is the severity inside a class: category 1 (or type A) is the most severe. The hazard statements on the label (H-codes in the EU, such as H225 “Highly flammable liquid and vapour”) say exactly which class and category applies.

Signal word

Warning for acute category 1 and long-term category 1. Long-term category 2 shows the pictogram with no signal word of its own.

A label carries one signal word for the whole product: if any hazard calls for Danger, Warning does not appear as well.

Where you see it

At home

Many insecticides and ant killers, pool chlorine tablets, some wood preservatives and anti-fouling paints, and petrol.

At work

Pesticide concentrates, copper and zinc compounds, some biocides and metalworking fluids, and many fuels and oils.

Examples of typical products, not a list of what any brand is classified as; the label on the product in your hand is what counts.

Where the rules differ

  • OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard does not require it: Appendix C says one of eight standard hazard symbols is to be used, and Figure C.1 shows eight without this one. A US label that shows it is going beyond what the standard requires.
  • CLP requires it for aquatic acute 1 and chronic 1 and 2; the milder long-term categories 3 and 4 carry no pictogram (Annex V, Part 3).
  • Transport rules use their own environmentally hazardous substance or marine pollutant mark, which also shows a fish and a tree. It is a transport marking, not the GHS pictogram.

The old orange symbol it replaced

Replaced the orange N (Dangerous for the environment) for aquatic hazards (R50, R50/53, R51/53). Not one-to-one: harmful-to-aquatic-life classifications without N (R52/53, R53) now carry no pictogram, and N with R59 (ozone layer) became the exclamation mark.

The mapping from the orange squares of Directive 67/548/EEC to the GHS pictograms is not one-to-one: CLP Annex VII translates each old classification separately, and some have no direct translation at all. All ten old symbols and what replaced them.

The other eight pictograms

Sources

Written in our own words from these official texts and checked on the date shown. The CLP text is the UK National Archives copy on legislation.gov.uk (EUR-Lex and unece.org did not answer a plain request from this host); it carries EU amendments made up to the end of 2020, and later EU changes may not be reflected. OSHA’s own pages refused the request, so the US text is the eCFR copy of the regulation.