Have you ever looked at the instructions on some of the products that you use to clean your house? Most have a hazardous household product symbol on them. A hazardous household product symbol tells you just how dangerous the product is and what the hazard is. In this activity, you will learn about household safety symbols.

Hazard symbols or warning symbols are recognizable symbols designed to warn about hazardous materials. The use of hazard symbols is often regulated by law and directed by standards organizations. Hazard symbols may appear with different colours, backgrounds, borders, and additional information in order to specify the type of hazard.

Each hazard symbol shows two pieces of information.

 Inside the shape is a picture that tells what the hazard is.

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Flammable means that the product can easily catch fire or burn very quickly.

           

Toxic means that the product contains materials that cause death or serious health problems if it is mishandled.

           

Explosive means that the product may explode if handled improperly.

           

Irritant means that the product will irritate (burn or itch) on your skin, in your eyes, or inside your nose.

           

Corrosive means that the product "eats away" at whatever it touches, such as what road salt does to your vehicle in the winter.

           

Biological means the product may contain an infectious disease. For example, you will likely see this symbol on the container you are given to provide a urine sample for a medical lab.

           

Electrical means that you may get an electrical shock if you do not handle the device carefully.

You probably use many household chemical products in and around your home and garage. These products may include cleaning liquids and powders, polishes, drain cleaners, paint thinners, and windshield washer fluids. These types of products can be dangerous and cause burns, fires, poisonings, and explosions.

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Although these symbols are on the products that you purchase to use in your home, you are not limited from buying them. A cleaner that you might put in your laundry to help clean very dirty items may be both corrosive and poisonous! Although this product has the potential to kill you, you could walk into any grocery store and purchase it by the case if you wished. These symbols are on the items to help you understand what you are dealing with.

Click here   to go to a website that will quiz you on some hazard symbols that you just learned about as well as some new ones!