Workplace containers · 29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(6)
Secondary container label maker
A secondary container is one you fill yourself from a labelled drum: the spray bottle, the wash bottle, the decanted pail. The rules are looser than for a shipped container, and most people over-comply because nobody ever told them what the standard actually says.
Build it
Workplace label builder
Opens set to OSHA HCS in workplace-container mode. You can change the jurisdiction inside the tool at any point — the label is rebuilt against the rules of whichever one is selected.
Start from a substance
No substance selected
The label below is empty and ready. Pick a substance to fill the classification in, or type your own product name straight into the tool.
Where the product is sold or used
§1910.1200(f)(2): the label is in English; other languages may also be included. For workplace containers, (f)(10) allows a second language “as long as the information is presented in English as well”.
Primary label language
Why is Irish not in this list?
Irish cannot be the primary language here. The H and P statement texts exist in Irish — they are printed inside the multilingual tables of CLP Annexes III and IV — but the signal word does not: signal words live in the Annex I tables, and no consolidated CLP text has ever been published in Irish. A signal word is a mandatory label element under Art. 17(1)(d), so an Irish-primary label would be missing one. Irish is still available as the second language. For Ireland, English-primary + Irish-second is what this tool can produce lawfully.
Second language
§1910.1200(f)(6) gives a choice: either the elements of (f)(1)(i)–(v) — that is, without the supplier block — or the product identifier plus words, pictures or symbols conveying general hazard information. A portable container for the immediate use of the employee who fills it needs no label at all under (f)(8).
Container & label size
Container capacity
OSHA HCS sets no minimum label or pictogram size — only a legibility requirement. For ≤ 3 L (bottles, cans, aerosols) we suggest at least 52 × 74 mm — our recommendation, not a legal minimum.
Label size
Everything fits · pictograms 36.9 mm · text 4.62 mm
Product information
Download your label
Free, no signup: a PDF at the exact physical size and an SVG for label software.
Disclaimer — please confirm before downloading:
Reference layout only. The chemical manufacturer, importer or employer is responsible for HCS compliance.
Live preview · OSHA HCS
Print size: 4 × 2 in
The preview is scaled to your screen — the real print size is shown above.
Up to 274% still fits 4 × 2 in.
Compliance check · OSHA HCS
- Missing: product identifier
- Missing: hazard statements
29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(3) — signal word, hazard statements and pictograms are located together
01 · United States
Paragraph (f)(6) gives you a choice of two
Option one
The elements of (f)(1)(i) through (v) — product identifier, signal word, hazard statements, pictograms and precautionary statements. Note what is missing: (f)(1)(vi), the supplier name, address and telephone number, is not on the list. A workplace container does not need your own company address on it.
29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(6)(i)
Option two
The product identifier together with “words, pictures, symbols, or combination thereof” that provide at least general information about the hazards, which in combination with the other information immediately available to employees under the hazard communication programme, provides the specific information about physical and health hazards.
Read plainly: words alone can be enough. “Acetone — flammable, keep away from ignition sources” on a wash bottle, with the SDS accessible and training done, satisfies option two. Pictograms are not mandatory on a secondary container.
29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(6)(ii)
And one container that needs nothing
Paragraph (f)(8) exempts a portable container into which a hazardous chemical is transferred from a labelled container, intended only for the immediate use of the employee who performs the transfer. “Immediate use” is the whole of it: the same shift, the same person, the container emptied or the contents returned. Set it down and walk away and you are back under (f)(6).
29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(8)
02 · Canada
The workplace label is not a WHMIS supplier label
Workplace labels sit outside the Hazardous Products Regulations entirely — they belong to occupational health and safety law. Federally, COHSR s. 10.41 asks for three things: the product identifier, hazard information about the product, and a statement that a safety data sheet is available in the workplace.
Pictograms and verbatim hazard and precautionary statements are not required. The bilingual obligation in HPR s. 6.2 is directed at supplier labels and safety data sheets; provincial OHS rules and, in Quebec, language legislation may impose their own requirements on workplace labels.
COHSR s. 10.41
03 · Europe
CLP does not reach the decanting bench
CLP governs placing a substance or mixture on the market. Transferring a product from a drum into a beaker inside your own plant is not placing it on the market, so CLP does not apply to that container. What applies is Directive 98/24/EC on chemical agents at work and the national occupational safety law implementing it, which requires that workers be able to identify the contents and the hazards.
The practical result is much the same as in the US: identifier plus hazard information, with local rules deciding the detail.
04 · Practical
Printing a batch of them
Secondary container labels are the case where the print sheet earns its keep: one artwork, ten to a Letter sheet on 4 × 2 in stock, or twelve on 2 × 2 in for small bottles. Ordinary paper labels are defensible here in a way they are not on a shipped drum — the container stays indoors, and the label is replaced when the bottle is refilled.
Set the label purpose to “workplace” in the tool and the mandatory-element list changes to match: the supplier block drops out, and the compliance panel stops asking for an address you do not need.
Language on this label
EN required
§1910.1200(f)(2): the label is in English; other languages may also be included. For workplace containers, (f)(10) allows a second language “as long as the information is presented in English as well”.
The official wording of hazard statements is fixed in CLP Annex III and of precautionary statements in Annex IV, in all 24 EU languages; the United States uses the texts of 29 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix C, which are not identical. Statement texts are never paraphrased.
Questions
Frequently asked
Do secondary containers need GHS pictograms?
Not under OSHA. Paragraph (f)(6) gives a choice, and the second option requires only the product identifier plus words, pictures, symbols or a combination that convey general hazard information. Words alone can satisfy it. Many employers use pictograms anyway for consistency with the shipped containers, which is reasonable but not required.
When does a container need no label at all?
When it is a portable container into which a hazardous chemical is transferred from a labelled container, and it is intended only for the immediate use of the employee who performs the transfer — 29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(8). If it is stored, shared with another worker, or kept past the shift, the exemption no longer applies.
Does a secondary container label need my company address?
No. The supplier identification element (f)(1)(vi) is not among the elements (f)(6)(i) carries over. It is required on shipped containers, not on containers used inside your own workplace.
Can I write the label by hand?
Nothing in the standard requires printing. The requirements are that the label be legible, in English, and prominently displayed. A printed label is easier to keep legible over time and easier to reproduce consistently, which is why most sites print them.
What about a pipe or a stationary process vessel?
Paragraph (f)(7) allows employers to substitute signs, placards, process sheets, batch tickets, operating procedures or other written materials for labels on stationary process containers, provided they identify the containers and convey the same information. Piping is not covered by the labelling requirements of the standard at all.
Elsewhere in this section
Other label rules
Before you label
Sources
Reference layout only. The chemical manufacturer, importer or employer is responsible for HCS compliance.