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"NFPA 704: Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response" is a standard maintained by the
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
-based
National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property damage, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. , the NFPA claims to have 5 ...
. First "tentatively adopted as a guide" in 1960, and revised several times since then, it defines the "Safety Square" or "Fire Diamond" which is used to quickly and easily identify the risks posed by hazardous materials. This helps determine what, if any, special equipment should be used, procedures followed, or precautions taken during the initial stages of an emergency response. It is an internationally accepted safety standard, and is crucial while transporting
chemicals A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
.


Codes

The four divisions are typically color-coded with red on top indicating
flammability A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort a ...
, blue on the left indicating level of
health hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...
, yellow on the right for chemical reactivity, and white containing codes for special hazards. Each of health, flammability and reactivity is rated on a scale from 0 (no hazard) to 4 (severe hazard). The latest version of NFPA 704 sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 for the specifications of each classification are listed below. The numeric values in the first column are designated in the standard by "Degree of Hazard" using
Arabic numerals The ten Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the most commonly used symbols for writing numbers. The term often also implies a positional notation number with a decimal base, in particular when contrasted with Roman numera ...
(0, 1, 2, 3, 4), not to be confused with other classification systems, such as that in the NFPA 30 Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code, where flammable and combustible liquid categories are designated by "Class", using
Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
(I, II, III).


History

The development of NFPA 704 is credited to the Charlotte Fire Department after a fire at the Charlotte Chemical Company in 1959 led to severe injuries to many of the firefighters. Upon arrival, the fire crew found a fire burning inside a vat that firefighters assumed to be burning kerosene. The crew tried to suppress the fire, which resulted in the vat exploding due to metallic sodium being stored in the kerosene. Thirteen firefighters were injured, several of whom had critical injuries while one lost both ears and most of his face from the incident. At the time, such vats were not labelled with the materials they contained, so firefighters did not have the necessary information to recognize that hazardous materials were present, which required a specific response. In this case, sodium was able to react with water to release hydrogen gas and large amounts of heat, which has the potential to explode. The Charlotte Fire Department developed training to respond to fires involving hazardous materials, ensured that protective clothing was available to those responding, and expanded the fire prevention inspection program. Fire Marshal J. F. Morris developed the diamond shaped placard as a marking system to indicate when a building contained hazardous materials, with their levels of flammability, reactivity and health effects.


See also

*
Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is an internationally agreed-upon standard managed by the United Nations that was set up to replace the assortment of hazardous material classification and labellin ...
*
GHS hazard pictograms Hazard pictograms form part of the international Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Two sets of pictograms are included within the GHS: one for the labelling of containers and for workplace hazard warning ...
*
Hazard symbol Hazard symbols are universally recognized Symbol, symbols designed to alert individuals to the presence of Hazard, hazardous or dangerous materials, locations, or conditions. These include risks associated with Electromagnetic field, electromag ...
* Hazchem *
Hazmat Hazmat, HazMat or HAZMAT may refer to: * Dangerous goods, hazardous materials and items * Hazmat suit * Hazmat diving * Hazmat (comics) is a Marvel Comics character * ''HazMat'' (film), a 2013 horror film See also * Hazmat Modine Hazmat Mo ...
* HMIS Color Bar


References


External links


NFPA 704 (2022) Free Access
on NFPA.org * * * * {{cite web, url=http://chemlabs.uoregon.edu/Safety/NFPA.html, title=Safety in the Chemistry Laboratory: NFPA 704 Hazard Identification System, publisher=
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310145104/http://chemlabs.uoregon.edu/Safety/NFPA.html, archive-date=2015-03-10, url-status=dead, language=en NFPA Standards Safety codes