Chemical hazard facts for kids

A chemical burn

A chemical hazard is something that can harm living things because of the chemicals it contains. Even though we use many chemicals every day, being around certain ones can make you sick quickly or cause health problems over a long time. Some main types of chemical hazards include things that can make it hard to breathe, chemicals that can burn you, things that irritate your skin or eyes, and chemicals that can cause serious illnesses like cancer. At work, being exposed to dangerous chemicals is a type of workplace risk. Wearing special protective gear, like gloves or masks, can greatly lower the chance of getting hurt by these materials.

Being around chemical hazards for a long time, like silica dust (from sand or rock), engine fumes, tobacco smoke, or lead, can increase the risk of heart problems, stroke, and high blood pressure.

Types of Chemical Hazards

How Chemicals Can Enter Your Body

The most common way chemicals get into your body at work is by breathing them in. This can happen with gases, vapors, mists, dust, fumes, and smoke. People who do a lot of physical work might breathe in more chemicals if the air is polluted. This is because they breathe in much more air during an 8-hour day compared to people who don't do physical work. More air breathed in means more chemicals if the air is dirty.

Chemicals can also be swallowed if food or drinks get dirty from unwashed hands, clothing, or bad handling practices.

Getting chemicals on your skin is a common injury, both at work and at home with things like bleach or drain cleaners. Usually, this just causes irritation where the chemical touched your skin. But sometimes, the chemical can soak through your skin and cause poisoning. Your eyes are very sensitive to chemicals, so they are a big concern for exposure. Getting chemicals in your eyes can cause irritation, burns, and even lead to losing your eyesight.

Getting chemicals injected into your body is rare at work. This can happen if a sharp object, like a needle, punctures your skin. When a chemical is injected, it can go directly into your bloodstream.

Symbols of Chemical Hazards

Hazard pictograms are special labels that quickly show you if dangerous chemicals are present. These symbols help identify if the chemicals you're about to use could cause physical harm or hurt the environment. They are easy to spot because they are shaped like diamonds with red borders. Here are some common ones:

• Explosive (shows an exploding bomb)
• Flammable (shows a flame)
• Oxidizing (shows a flame above a circle)
• Corrosive (shows corrosion on a table and a hand)
• Acute toxicity (skull and crossbones)
• Hazardous to environment (shows a dead tree and a fish)
• Health hazard/hazardous to the ozone layer (exclamation mark)
• Serious health hazard (cross on a human silhouette)
• Gas under pressure (shows a gas cylinder)

These symbols are also divided into different classes and categories based on the type of chemical and how dangerous it is.

Controlling Chemical Exposure

Removing or Replacing Chemicals

It's believed that chemical exposure causes many illnesses and deaths among workers each year. Often, this happens because people don't know enough about the dangers of chemicals. The best way to control chemical exposure in a workplace is to remove or replace any chemicals that are known or thought to cause illness or death.

Engineering Controls

Even if you can't remove or replace harmful chemicals, there are other ways to reduce exposure. One way is to use "engineering controls." This means making physical changes to the work area to get rid of or lower the risk from chemicals. For example, you might put a cover or barrier around the process that creates the chemical hazard.

Safe Work Practices

If you can't enclose or isolate the chemical process, the next best step is to use "administrative and work practices controls." This means setting up rules and ways of working that reduce how much time workers spend around chemical hazards. For instance, you might create work schedules where workers switch jobs. This makes sure that everyone has limited exposure to dangerous chemicals.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Employers should give their workers personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep them safe from chemicals. PPE stops chemicals from getting into workers' bodies through breathing, skin contact, eye contact, swallowing, or injection. For example, if workers wear respirators, they won't breathe in harmful chemicals.

First Aid for Chemical Exposure

If there's a chemical emergency, knowing basic first aid can help reduce harm. Different chemicals can cause different types of injuries. Most experts agree that if a chemical touches your skin or eyes, you should rinse the area with water right away. How long you should rinse depends on the chemical. For example, corrosive chemicals need longer rinsing. Here are some general guidelines for rinsing times:

• 5 minutes - for chemicals that cause little to no irritation
• 15 minutes - for chemicals that cause moderate to severe irritation or are acutely toxic
• 30 minutes - for most corrosive chemicals
• 60 minutes - for very strong alkalis like sodium, potassium, or calcium hydroxide

It might be important to take the affected person to a doctor or hospital, depending on their condition. If they need to go before the recommended rinsing time is over, you should continue rinsing them during the trip. Some chemical makers might even suggest a specific cleaning agent to use.

Long-Term Health Risks

Heart Problems

A report from 2017 found that being exposed to silica dust, engine exhaust, or welding fumes at work can be linked to heart problems. There are also links to exposure to arsenic, benzopyrenes, lead, dynamite, carbon disulphide, carbon monoxide, metalworking fluids, and tobacco smoke at work. Working where aluminium is made using electricity, or where paper is made using the sulphate pulping process, is also linked to heart problems. Links were also found with chemicals no longer allowed in some workplaces, like phenoxy acids containing TCDD (a type of dioxin) or asbestos.

Being exposed to silica dust or asbestos at work is also linked to pulmonary heart disease (a type of heart problem affecting the lungs). There is also evidence that exposure to lead, carbon disulphide, or phenoxyacids containing TCDD, as well as working where aluminium is made using electricity, are linked to stroke.

See also

In Spanish: Riesgo químico para niños

• Anthropogenic hazard
• Biocontainment
• Biological agent
• Biological hazard
• Biosafety level
• Chemical safety
• Hazard
  • Health hazard – Hazards that would affect the health of exposed persons.
• Hierarchy of hazard controls
• Mechanical hazard
• Occupational exposure banding
• Occupational hazard
• Physical hazard
• Planetary protection
• Psychosocial hazard
• Public health