Introduction Many chemicals are considered hazardous materials because they pose a variety of health, safety, and environmental dangers if they are not stored, handled, or disposed of in specific ways.
Some chemicals pose unique hazards.
For instance, compressed gases may pose an oxygen deficiency hazard, or a material may be or become radioactive, with its own unique health hazards. These two conditions are dealt with in their respective chapters. Generally, chemicals are categorized by the hazard characteristics they exhibit. The most common characteristic is toxicity. Additional characteristics include flammability, reactivity, and corrosivity.