The J. T. Baker Chemical Company has devised a simple color-coding scheme to address the problem of storing reagents that can react violently together in close proximity to each other. The coding scheme includes both solid and striped colors, which are used to designate specific hazards.

The colors and their meaning are as follows:

Red: Flammability hazard; store in a flammable chemical storage area

Red Stripe: Flammability hazard; do not store in same area as other flammable substances

Yellow: Reactivity hazard; store separately from other chemicals

Yellow Stripe: Reactivity hazard; do not store with other yellow coded chemicals; store separately

White: Contact hazard; store separately in a corrosion-proof location

White Stripe: Contact hazard; do not store with chemicals in solid white category

Blue: Health hazard; store in a secure poison area

Orange: Not suitably characterized by any of the foregoing categories

The reagents are to be grouped within each family according to their Baker hazard code. The order of listing is: blue, orange, red, red stripe, white, white stripe, yellow, yellow stripe.

A reagent that is classified as a "---- stripe" is to be placed on a new shelf and not immediately adjacent to a reagent classified the as a solid shade of the stripe. For example, zirconium nitrate is classified as "I-3 #29 yellow" and the next reagent is cadmium nitrate, which is classified as "I-3 #40 yellow stripe". The cadmium nitrate is stored on a new shelf and not next to the zirconium nitrate.