flinnsci.com SAFETY REFERENCE SUGGESTED CHEMICAL STORAGE PATTERN
725
Suggested Sequence of Steps to More Safely
Organize Your School’s Chemical Stores Area
Take an inventory of all the chemicals in your school. You will
never know the extent of your problem until you know exactly
what you have. Record the inventory. You may want to consider
the purchase of the Flinn Online Chemventory™ system to facilitate
this task.
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Decide what products you will need for the next year (at best, two
years). Ruthlessly rid yourselves of the remaining the accumulated
materials.
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Reorganize the remaining products into their compatible chemical families (see our Suggested Chemical Storage Pattern on pages 726–730). The actual
sequence of compatible families on your shelves is not critical. What is important is to keep the compatible families separate and to keep the organic and
inorganic families as far apart as possible. The Suggested Shelf Storage Pattern shown on pages 726–730 is only one suggested sequence you can use. If shelf
space is a problem, you are permitted to place more than one compatible family on a shelf. Make sure you either have a physical divider or leave a 3" space
between each family.
Hundreds of teachers who have reorganized their shelves, using these patterns, tell us products are easier to find versus the alphabetical system previously
used. When you reorganize, you may need some estimate of the percentage of shelf space each family might occupy. If yours is a “typical” high school, the
following profile may be a helpful guide.
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Families Percentage of Shelf Space Occupied Families Percentage of Shelf Space Occupied
Acids
(Inorganic 9)
Store away from all other items. Store in a
dedicated acid cabinet. Store nitric acid away
from all other materials.
Organic Families
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Inorganic Families
Organic acids (Organic 1) will probably occupy about 5+% of your organic shelf
space except for acetic acid, which should be stored with the inorganic acids (e.g.,
hydrochloric) in a dedicated acid cabinet. Keep acetic acid away from nitric acid.
If your school is “typical,” the remainder of your organic materials may occupy
about 15–20% of your total shelf space. You should store all flammable organics in
a dedicated flammables cabinet.
Other Materials
Sulfides, etc.
(Inorganic 5)
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There may be some very large space consumers in 2-kilogram (5-lb.) containers
(e.g., calcium chloride, calcium hydroxide). Certainly you may wish to extend family
storage in a separate location for such large volumes of large packages.
Congratulations! You have now reorganized your chemical stores facility to:
• Store compatible products together. • Lock up all poisons.
• Separate acids into dedicated storage. • Record all inventory.
• Separate flammables into dedicated storage. • Rid yourselves of excess materials.
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YOU NOW HAVE A SAFER FACILITY!
Less than 1%
Metals, etc.
(Inorganic 1)
Less than 5% Chlorates, Perchlorates, etc.
(Inorganic 6)
5+%
Halides, Sulfates,
Phosphates, Acetates, etc.
(Inorganic 2)
Could be 35–40% of available space.
This is usually the largest family.
Arsenates, etc.
(Inorganic 7)
Less than 1%
Nitrates, etc.
(Inorganic 3)
Approximately 8–10% Borates, Chromates, etc.
(Inorganic 8)
Less than 1%
Hydroxides, Oxides, etc.
(Inorganic 4)
Approximately 10% Sulfur, Phosphorus, etc.
(Inorganic 10)
Approximately 3%
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