Fundamental research on educational methods of chemical risk using UN-GHS labels

联合国全球统一制度是联合国2003年建议的一个全球化学品统一分类和标签制度，将于2008年在全球实施。这一制度有望鼓励人们以减少化学品引起的事故或疾病风险的方式行事。然而，联合国全球统一制度与日本目前的化学品分类和标签制度有很大不同。特别是，由于日本的系统不要求象形标签，普通日本人不熟悉联合国全球统一制度中定义的新象形标签。因此，在日本工作场所引入UN-GHS之前，必须澄清实际使用条件和危险化学品标签制度带来的问题，并管理相关问题。我们对日本受试者进行了关于日本目前使用的标签和联合国全球统一制度标签的识别测试。结果显示，受试者在识别某些UN-GHS标签的含义时遇到一定困难。关于描述“钢瓶”、“腐蚀”、“健康危害”和“水危害”的标签，没有附带解释性说明的问题得到正确回答的百分比不到60%。关于描绘“火焰”和“火焰在圆圈上”的标签的答案的结果显示，许多受试者无法区分两者。此外，许多受试者无法清楚地区分“骷髅”和“健康危害”。“这些结果表明，就这些标签进行正确的教育非常重要。

RESULTSThe UN-GHS, a globally harmonized system of classifying and labeling chemicals that was recommended by the United Nations in 2003, will be implemented globally in 2008. This system is expected to encourage people to behave in a way that reduces the risk of accidents or diseases caused by chemicals. However, the UN-GHS differs significantly from the present Japanese system of classifying and labeling chemicals. In particular, since the Japanese system does not require pictographic labels, ordinary Japanese people are not familiar with the new pictographic labels defined in the UN-GHS. Hence, before introducing the UN-GHS at the Japanese workplace, it is critical to clarify the actual usage conditions and the problems that this labeling system of hazardous chemicals poses, and to manage the related problems. We conducted recognition tests on Japanese subjects of the labels presently used in Japan and the UN-GHS labels. The results revealed that the subjects faced some difficulty in recognizing the meanings of some UN-GHS labels. The percentage of questions that were answered correctly with regard to the labels depicting `cylinder', 'corrosion', 'health hazard',' and 'aqueous hazard,' with no accompanying explanatory statements, was less than 60. The results of the answers regarding the labels depicting 'flame' and 'flame over circle' revealed that many subjects were unable to distinguish one from the other. Further, many subjects were unable to clearly distinguish "skull and crossbones" from "health hazard." These results indicate that it is very important to impart correct education regarding these labels.