CLP Hazard Symbols: What Each One Means for UK Craft Sellers

CLP hazard symbols are the red-bordered diamond pictograms on a chemical product's label that tell anyone handling it what kind of harm it can cause — flammable, irritant, harmful to aquatic life, and so on. If you make candles, wax melts, reed diffusers, or room sprays in the UK, the symbols that belong on your label are decided by your product's classification, not by what looks familiar.

That last point is where most makers go wrong: you can't pick the symbols, and you can't copy them from another seller's label. This guide explains what each symbol means, which ones craft products usually carry, and how to work out the right ones for your formulation.

This covers GB (Great Britain) CLP requirements. Northern Ireland follows EU CLP, which differs in some details. This is not legal advice.

What the Symbols Are

CLP hazard symbols are formally called hazard pictograms. They come from the United Nations' Globally Harmonised System (GHS), which GB CLP adopts. Each pictogram is a square set on a point (a diamond), with a black symbol on a white background and a red border.

There are nine GHS pictograms in total. They cover physical hazards (like flammability and explosivity), health hazards (like irritation and toxicity), and environmental hazards. Craft sellers usually only meet three or four of them, because the others cover industrial chemicals, gases under pressure, and acute toxicity that fragrance-based products rarely reach.

A pictogram is one of the six elements every CLP label for a hazardous mixture must carry — alongside the product identifier, your supplier details, the nominal quantity, a signal word, and the hazard and precautionary statements. Our complete UK CLP labels guide walks through all six.

The Symbols Craft Products Usually Carry

Here are the pictograms a candle, wax melt, or diffuser maker is most likely to encounter, what each signals, and when it tends to apply.

Pictogram	Code	What it means	When it shows up on craft products
Exclamation mark	GHS07	Irritant or harmful — skin/eye irritation, skin sensitisation, harmful if swallowed	The most common one. Fragrance components like linalool, limonene, and citral are skin sensitisers, so many candles, melts, and diffusers carry it
Flame	GHS02	Flammable	Depends on the flash point of the finished product. May apply to diffusers and room sprays; less often to a solid wax candle once set
Environment	GHS09	Hazardous to the aquatic environment	Some fragrance components are toxic to aquatic life. Common on diffusers and higher-load products
Corrosion	GHS05	Causes serious eye damage or skin burns	Less common; more likely on a high-concentration reed diffuser than a candle

The other five pictograms — exploding bomb (GHS01), gas cylinder (GHS04), health hazard (GHS08), skull and crossbones (GHS06), and oxidiser (GHS03) — exist, but a typical fragranced craft product rarely classifies into them. If your classification ever points to one of those, treat it as a signal to double-check your formulation data and, where the product is genuinely high-hazard, get a professional review.

Signal Word and Statements Go With the Symbols

A pictogram never travels alone. Each one is tied to a signal word and to specific hazard statements (H-codes) and precautionary statements (P-codes).

The signal word is either "Warning" (less severe) or "Danger" (more severe). Only one appears on a label — if a product qualifies for both, "Danger" wins. Most candles and wax melts carry "Warning"; higher-concentration diffusers and sprays can reach "Danger".

The statements describe the specific hazard and how to avoid harm. For example, a product carrying GHS07 because of a skin sensitiser will usually also carry the hazard statement H317: May cause an allergic skin reaction. A flammable product carrying GHS02 will pair with a precautionary statement like P210: Keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames and other ignition sources. No smoking. The exact codes come straight out of the classification — you look them up, you don't invent them.

How to Find the Right Symbols for Your Product

You determine the pictograms through classification, which is a lookup based on your actual formulation, not a guess. The short version:

1. Get the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for every fragrance oil and additive you use. Your supplier must provide these. Section 2 of the SDS gives the hazard classification; Section 3 lists the hazardous components and their concentration ranges.
2. Work out the concentration of each hazardous component in your finished product. If your fragrance oil is 8% of the candle and that oil is 15% linalool, then linalool is 1.2% of the finished product.
3. Apply the GB CLP mixture rules. For most craft products this is the additive method — add up the components sharing a hazard class and check whether they cross the threshold for that class.
4. Read off the label elements. Once you know the hazard categories, the regulation tells you exactly which pictograms, signal word, and H/P statements apply.

If you want a quick starting point for which pictograms tend to apply to a product type, our free CLP Pictogram Finder helps you narrow it down before you do the full classification. To sanity-check an existing label against the six required elements, the CLP Label Checker flags what's missing.

Why You Can't Reuse Another Seller's Symbols

Two makers can use the same fragrance oil and still need different symbols. The classification depends on the concentration of each hazardous component in the finished product — and that changes with your fragrance load, your wax, and any other additives. A 6% load and a 10% load of the same oil can land on different sides of a classification threshold.

This is also why a reformulation matters. Change your supplier, change the fragrance percentage, or swap an oil, and your classification — and therefore your symbols — can change. Re-check every time.

Common Mistakes

Treating the symbols as decoration. They're determined by classification, not chosen for the look of the label.

Assuming "natural" means symbol-free. Essential oils contain the same sensitising components (linalool, limonene, citral) that trigger GHS07. Natural is not the same as non-hazardous.

Forgetting the size rules. Pictograms have a minimum size set by the package, and they must be legible. A symbol shrunk to fit a small label can fail compliance even when it's the correct symbol.

Copying H and P codes from a generic template. The statements must match your product's classification. A generic set lifted from a template is unlikely to be exactly right for your formulation.

The Quicker Route

Working out pictograms, signal words, and statements by hand for every product — and redoing it every time a recipe changes — is the part most makers find tedious and error-prone. CraftCert generates the correct CLP elements from your actual formulation, so the symbols, codes, and statements come out matched to the product rather than guessed. See pricing for what's covered at each plan level.

FAQ

How many CLP hazard symbols are there?

Nine in total under the GHS system that GB CLP uses. Craft products typically carry one to three of them — most often the exclamation mark (GHS07), sometimes the flame (GHS02) and environment (GHS09) symbols.

What does the exclamation mark symbol mean on a candle?

GHS07 signals an irritant or harmful product. On candles and wax melts it usually appears because the fragrance oil contains skin-sensitising components, which pair with the hazard statement "May cause an allergic skin reaction".

Do unscented candles need hazard symbols?

A genuinely unscented, plain-wax candle with no hazardous additives may not classify as hazardous and so may not need pictograms. Check the SDS for your wax and any dyes — some additives are classified even when there's no fragrance.

Related Guides

• CLP labels: the complete UK guide for craft sellers
• CLP labelling guide for candle and wax melt makers
• CLP labels for candles

Sources

• HSE — CLP Labelling and Packaging Requirements
• HSE — The GB CLP Regulation
• Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 — Classification, Labelling and Packaging (retained GB law)