As the Anchorage (Alaska) School District cleaning operations team was finishing a three-year test of various chemical-mixing systems last year, it became apparent that there was not an acceptable system available. The district’s training supervisor, Darin Hargraves, developed a chemical dispensing and labeling system unique to the district’s needs, addressing safety, standardization of products and ease of use.

Hargraves developed P.A.U.S.E. [Product And Use Safety Explanation], an icon system for labeling chemicals. “The system allows workers to determine very quickly everything you normally would read on a product’s label,” he says. Symbols tell the worker what chemicals are in the containers, the pH in concentrated form, the pH in mixed form, how to mix the chemical, and what temperature of water is required for mixing.

In addition to including P.A.U.S.E. labeling on product orders, Hargraves and Stan Syta, director of operations, worked with product manufacturers to color-code chemicals and also incorporate certain fragrances with certain chemicals. “Disinfectants are red, sanitizers are pink, our high-pH cleaner is green, and the neutral cleaner is yellow with a lemon scent,” Hargraves says. He adds that the system represents a “universal language” that is easy to decipher quickly for workers who speak English as a second language, as well as English-speaking workers.

“It is our belief that we will see a decrease in the incidence of improperly diluted chemicals and their potential for injury, as a result of ‘training friendly’ chemicals,” Syta says.