Origin of the biohazard symbol

Have you ever wondered how the bio-hazard symbol so prominent in today's society came into existence? Earlier today, a friend of mine - and retired firefighter - had posted a discussion on Facebook regarding holy books (Holy books: which are real?) and, included in the article he cited was a illustration of numerous holy images . . . one of which bore a striking resemblance to our modern bio-hazard symbol. Being the inquisitive type, he and I struck up a conversation about it and I told him I would search for the answer.

Turns out the bio-hazard symbol came from the mind of Charles Baldwin who, at the time he came up with the idea, worked at Dow Chemical (website: Dow Chemical) developing containment systems for the Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health (website: National Cancer Institute) (Origin of the bio-hazard symbol, 2008). Explains he: "it became obvious to us that there were a lot of so-called warning symbols in the various laboratories that we visited, but there was no standardization." Driven by this lack of standardization, Mr. Baldwin and his colleagues began work on what he termed "something unique and striking enough to be remembered". In addition to being memorable, Baldwin decided it needed to be meaningless so they could educate the public in its meaning. Sample symbols were tested across the country utilizing survey groups who were polled on two separate occasions. The symbol that stood out most - and was the most remembered - was the bio-hazard symbol pictured above right. Baldwin explains the logic behind the color - blaze orange - and why the three-sided figure was chosen: "Blaze orange was chosen because it had been proven under artic exploration to be the most visible under the most conditions. The three-sided figure was chosen if it were on a box containing bio-hazardous material and the box was moved around, transported, it might end up in different positions."

Bio-hazard label on my wife's sharps box

Baldwin said the next challenge was presenting it to the scientific community. To accomplish this, he wrote a paper on the new label that was published in the American Journal of Science (Journal of Science). "The next thing was to get the authorization from the various people who would be using it," he explained. It was soon formally adopted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Institute of Health (NIH). "That's pretty good acceptance," he said.

References

[Web log message]. (2008, October 31). Retrieved from http://markapocalypse.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/origin-of-the-biohazard-symbol/ Retrieved: August 28, 2013