Chemical safety
Paraformaldehyde: hazards and COSHH prompts
Powder form that depolymerises to formaldehyde — heating to dissolve it is the exposure risk.
Always work from your own safety data sheet. Classification varies with grade, concentration and supplier. Use this page to orient yourself, then assess the task you are actually doing, at the scale you are actually doing it.
Hazard classification
Classification data could not be retrieved just now. Work from the safety data sheet supplied with your container — it is the authoritative source in any case.
Others in fixatives & biological reagents
Formaldehyde solution (formalin)
The standard fixative, and a recognised carcinogen with tight workplace exposure limits.
ReadPhenol
Present in many nucleic-acid extraction reagents; causes severe burns that can be painless at first.
Read2-Mercaptoethanol
Reducing agent used in protein and RNA work — acutely toxic and unmistakable by smell.
ReadStop rebuilding this by hand
Keep Paraformaldehyde — and everything else — in one inventory.
LevelSixLabs pulls GHS classification onto your chemical records automatically, then builds COSHH assessments from the substances you already hold. Explore a fully-stocked demo lab, no signup.