Dividing up a larger stock of chemicals into smaller bottles is a standard practice in many industries and there is nothing wrong with as long as it is done correctly.

Firstly the new containers must be clearly marked describing what is in them and what hazards it poses. There should be a named responsible person who looks after this material and will arrange for its final disposal.

There should be a date telling you when it was transferred to the new container and (if possible) a date when it will be disposed of.

Integrity of the container is really important. Several supplies of laboratory chemicals will no longer guarantee their containers for more than 5 years, which is a bit of worry when you find chemicals dating back to the days of the Bay City Rollers at the back of cupboards.  And I have seen plastic containers just crumble when you pick them up.

Thanks,

It was a HSE inspector who picked me up on the integrity of the bottles. they all had a colour code system on them, but were mostly washing up liquid bottles with labels on them.

It is essential that you ensure that the container material is compatible with the chemical. For example, the thought that one might keep a 'standard thinners', presumably a hydrocarbon solvent, in a plastic washing up bottle would for me be unacceptable. Some plastics are acceptable for the oils you mention, for example those that have contained lubricating oil. Most plastics would probably be acceptable for pre-mixed metalworking fluid as this is a chemical-water emulsion. Any solvent where the original concentrate came in a metal container should really only be decanted into another metal container.

Chris

You could of course ask the material supplier (pushing back up the supply chain to the actual producer/manufacturer if required) for their recommended packaging - after all someone should have conducted a suitability study for the package as presented to market especially where the content could be considered Dangerous Goods for transport where very specific rules apply.

Edited by user 18 December 2018 19:38:31(UTC)  | Reason: FFS

When selecting your containers you need to look at the whole process. So for example glass bottles are generally very resistant against chemicals but you might not want people using glass bottles in workshop where there is risk of breakages. Polyethylene is generally very chemically resistant

It is not affected by strong acids or strong bases, but it can be attacked by aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or xylene or chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethane or trichlorobenzene.

You really need to know what the substances in your mixtures are; check the SDS. The names you have given are too generic.   Note that plastic bottles have a higher fire risk.

There are suppliers for these sort of bottles who can probably advise you on what you need.  

You may also want to consider why they are using washing up bottles! I suspect it allows them to aim the oils and coolant exactly where they want it, in appropriate quantities.

These are obviously relatively small quantities we are taking about and if the washing up bottle has been in use for some time with no issues, I don’t see the issue provided it is labelled appropriately.

Is there really such a substance as standard thinners! This is the one I would be concerned about mostly. However, for the oils why not just buy old fashioned oil cans (radical I know) that would prevent any spills which is what I assume the HSE are concerned about. For example, only

https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/oil-cans-and-guns/350cc-plastic-oil-can-6%22-nylon-spout/p/ZT1002115X?utm_campaign=pla-Hand+Tools+-+&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping-pla&utm_keyword=ZT1002115X&istCompanyId=6aa6787b-063e-4414-802d-129f235df603&istItemId=wtqixxqprr&istBid=tztx&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInrWJ6-6r3wIVB-J3Ch0-qQZAEAQYAiABEgJcKvD_BwE

You may also want to consider biological build up (even if the coolant has a biocide in it, if you keep using the same bottle without cleansing properly (could be an issue)