Do you work with hazardous chemicals and reagents? If you work in a research laboratory like me, you’ll be handling dangerous chemicals and potential biohazards every day.

I manage these risks by reading the appropriate Material Safety Data Sheets, using safety equipment and wearing suitable personal protective equipment. I also rely on appropriate chemical labelling and safety signage in the lab and on reagent bottles. Unfortunately, erecting appropriate signage or providing appropriate labelling can sometimes be problematic if the supply of labels, stickers or signs is exhausted or there are specialised labelling requirements.

In response to these challenges, I have designed the free HazChem TrueType font.

Now, safety signage or chemical labelling are just a font-change away!

The HazChem font is ideal for generating OH&S-compliant labels for reagent bottles, writing Material Safety Data Sheets or Standard Operating Procedures as well as general chemical safety labelling around your lab, industrial site or educational facility.

My HazChem font comes with a range of hazmat and hazchem symbols including Cytotoxic, Explosive, Radioactive, Biohazard, Corrosive, Flammable (Solid, Liquid, Gas), Oxidising Agent, Non-Flammable Gas, Cytotoxic, Poisonous, Toxic, Harmful and Ionising Radiation. For convenience, Attention, No Smoking, No Food and Exit glyphs have also been included.

Because there are many regulatory regimes in existence, I have created symbols that work within the Australian/British and USA/Canadian systems. Symbols from the European Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations (CHIP) and Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals (REACH) systems have been included, as well as the United Nations’ new Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).

As a result of these many systems, I have made a handy printable reference sheet that summarises what keyboard characters correspond to each symbol. All symbols can be accessed on a US-Style computer keyboard without having to access the Character Map or “insert special character” functions.

Whilst my HazChem font won’t resolve your chemical safety issues, I trust that it will be an invaluable tool for promoting safety in laboratories, industrial sites and educational institutions.

You can find out more about the HazChem font, access installation instructions and get your free download at http://www.adonline.id.au/fonts/hazchem/