Provenance

Reference data from EU CLP Annex VI and published regulations — verify against your supplier's SDS before use.

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GHS Hazard Pictogram

GHS05 — Corrosion Pictogram

Also called the corrosion symbol. Signal word: Danger or Warning.

Corrosive substances

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What does GHS05 mean?

The corrosion pictogram indicates substances that cause severe skin burns and eye damage (H314/H318) or are corrosive to metals (H290). Contact can cause permanent tissue destruction within minutes.

Straight answers

The corrosion pictogram depicts chemicals that…

…destroy what they touch. Two different things, in fact: irreversible damage to skin and eyes, and corrosion of metals. 3 CLP hazard classes lead to it, carrying 3 hazard statements — H290, H314 and H318.

What characteristic does the corrosion pictogram depict?

Destruction of tissue or material on contact, not toxicity. A corrosive substance need not be poisonous at all: the harm is chemical burning at the point of contact, which is why the picture shows a hand and a surface being eaten away rather than a person.

What is the difference between GHS05 and GHS07 for skin?

Severity. GHS05 is skin corrosion categories 1A to 1C — irreversible damage. GHS07 is skin irritation category 2, which heals. Article 26(1)(c) removes the exclamation mark when corrosion applies, but only for irritation: 366 of these 737 entries legitimately keep both.

Which signal word goes with the corrosion pictogram?

Both, and the split is unusually clean. Skin corrosion and serious eye damage take Danger. A substance that is only corrosive to metals — H290, category 1 — takes Warning, because it threatens the drum rather than the person holding it.

How many chemicals carry GHS05?

737 substances with a harmonised classification in CLP Annex VI.

Every number here is computed from CLP Annex VI at build time. See all nine pictograms compared.

Which hazard classes require GHS05?

GHS05 is assigned by 3 hazard classes across 5 categories under CLP and UN GHS. The signal word is set by the category, not by the pictogram — which is why the same pictogram can carry both Danger and Warning. The full wording of every code is listed under Associated H-statements below.

Hazard class Ch. Category Signal word H-code
Corrosive to metals 2.16 1 Warning H290
Skin corrosion/irritation 3.2 1A Danger H314
Skin corrosion/irritation 3.2 1B Danger H314
Skin corrosion/irritation 3.2 1C Danger H314
Serious eye damage/eye irritation 3.3 1 Danger H318

Interactive tool

pH → skin/eye corrosion trigger

Enter the pH of the substance or mixture. Extreme pH is a classification trigger.

Associated H-statements (3)

H290 May be corrosive to metals. H314 Causes severe skin burns and eye damage. H318 Causes serious eye damage.

Each code opens its own page: the verbatim CLP wording, its status under EU CLP, OSHA HazCom and UN GHS, and every harmonised substance that carries it. See also the full list of hazard statements and the precautionary statements.

Which pictograms appear next to GHS05

A label rarely carries one diamond. Counted across the 737 harmonised substances that carry GHS05 — before the Article 26 precedence rules remove anything.

GHS07 Exclamation Mark 366 · 49.7% GHS09 Environmental Hazard 296 · 40.2% GHS08 Health Hazard 225 · 30.5% GHS06 Skull and Crossbones 170 · 23.1% GHS02 Flame 104 · 14.1% GHS03 Flame Over Circle 19 · 2.6% GHS04 Gas Cylinder 13 · 1.8% GHS01 Exploding Bomb 5 · 0.7%

Corrosion travels with the exclamation mark on half of these entries — and that is exactly the pair CLP Article 26(1)(c) is most often wrongly used to break.

When GHS05 changes what else is shown

Article 26 of CLP cuts the number of diamonds on a label. One of its five rules touches GHS05.

Article 26(1)(c)

If GHS05 applies, GHS07 shall not appear for skin or eye irritation — and only for that.

Read as a blanket ban this rule does damage: 366 of the 737 entries carrying corrosion legitimately carry GHS07 as well, because their exclamation mark comes from acute toxicity category 4, sensitisation or narcotic effects — none of which the rule touches.

Nothing in Article 26 makes GHS05 optional in the other direction unless a rule above says so. All five precedence rules, with the number of substances each one affects.

Storage & handling requirements

Store in acid-resistant or alkali-resistant cabinets as appropriate. Do not store in metal containers for corrosive-to-metals substances. Use secondary containment (drip trays). Segregate acids from bases. Ensure eyewash stations are accessible within 10 seconds.

Regulatory context (CLP / OSHA / REACH)

CLP Skin Corrosion Cat. 1A/1B/1C (H314) and Eye Damage Cat. 1 (H318). EU Directive 98/24/EC covers chemical agents at work. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1000 sets PELs. Emergency eyewash required per ANSI Z358.1.

Transport marking: GHS vs ADR/DOT

ADR Class 8 — Corrosive substances. Black and white diamond with test tubes showing corrosion. Packing groups I–III based on severity. Segregation from food, metals, and certain organic materials required.

Printing GHS05 on a label

A square set at a point — a diamond — with the black symbol on a white background and a red frame wide enough to be clearly visible. An all-black frame is a transport label, not a CLP pictogram. Size is set twice over: each pictogram must cover at least one fifteenth of the minimum label area required by Article 17, and must never be smaller than 1 cm². On a package of 3 litres or less that works out to 10 × 10 mm as the floor, and 16 × 16 mm where it fits.

Source: Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Annex I, 1.2.1.1–1.2.1.4 and Table 1.3 — the full table for all four package sizes. Building an actual label? The label constructor lays it out at the right proportions.

GHS05 — Corrosion

High-resolution SVG vector file. Free for use in safety documents, SDS, and label design.

Substances classified with GHS05

Showing 24 of 737 substances in our database with this pictogram. View all →

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