semiatic

GHS08

Health hazard

Serious or long-term harm to health.

The black silhouette of a head and shoulders with a white star bursting on the chest.

GHS code
GHS08
Name
Health hazard
Signal word
Danger or Warning, by category
Old orange symbols (not one-to-one)
T (Toxic), T+ (Very toxic), Xn (Harmful)

What it warns about

The health hazard pictogram marks serious health effects, many of them long-term or delayed: may cause cancer, may damage genes or fertility or the unborn child, may damage organs through a single or repeated exposure, may cause allergy or asthma symptoms if breathed in, or may be fatal if swallowed and it enters the airways (aspiration). The hazard statements on the label say which.

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

  • Respiratory sensitisation, categories 1, 1A and 1B
  • Germ cell mutagenicity, categories 1A, 1B and 2
  • Carcinogenicity, categories 1A, 1B and 2
  • Reproductive toxicity, categories 1A, 1B and 2
  • Specific target organ toxicity, single exposure, categories 1 and 2
  • Specific target organ toxicity, repeated exposure, categories 1 and 2
  • Aspiration hazard, category 1

US: OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, Appendix C

  • Carcinogen
  • Respiratory sensitizer
  • Reproductive toxicity
  • Target organ toxicity
  • Mutagenicity
  • Aspiration toxicity

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

Danger for category 1 (and 1A, 1B) and for aspiration hazard; Warning for category 2.

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

Petrol, lamp oil, white spirit and other liquid hydrocarbons (aspiration hazard), some paint strippers, and expanding polyurethane foam and two-part polyurethane paints and varnishes (respiratory sensitisers).

At work

Isocyanate paints and foams, solvents such as toluene and dichloromethane, some products containing crystalline silica, formaldehyde solutions, lead compounds and many laboratory chemicals.

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

  • When the health hazard is on the label for respiratory sensitisation, the exclamation mark is not used for skin sensitisation or skin or eye irritation (OSHA Appendix C, C.2.1.4; CLP Article 26(1)(d)).
  • The additional category for effects on or via lactation carries no pictogram under CLP (Annex V, 2.5).
  • Transport has no equivalent label: a product that is only a long-term health hazard is often not dangerous goods for transport at all.

The old orange symbol it replaced

Had no orange square of its own. It took over the serious long-term cases that used to sit under T and T+ (R39, R48, carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxicants of categories 1 and 2) and under Xn (R48/20 to R48/22, R65 lung damage if swallowed, R68, and carcinogens of category 3), plus R42 respiratory sensitisers.

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.