Safranin O (CAS 477-73-6): storage and disposal

Safranin is held with the other staining stock, not with the cleaning supplies and not at eye height. Keep powder in its original jar and Gram stain bottles in their kit box, on a shelf low enough that nobody has to reach over their head to lift a bottle. Serious eye damage is the classification, so a bench with eye protection and an eyewash nearby matters more than any special cabinet, since the storage class is general. Date every bottle when it arrives, and keep teaching stock separate from anything used in clinical work. A tray beneath the bottles shows leaks quickly because the red dye marks paper labels and white shelving.

This dye gives few clear signs of age, so the container carries the evidence. A red stain on the cap or label means seepage, a crust at the thread means the solution has dried out there, and powder that has caked or looks damp has taken in moisture. A faded or stained label, a cracked bottle or no record of when it was received make the contents unknown, and unknown stock is the real problem. Take a look at the level too: a bottle that is much lower than its record suggests has been leaking or drying out. Do not open an unlabelled red bottle to see what it contains. List it with a plain description of its colour and size.

By specialist collection only. It never goes down the drain or into general waste. It is normally packed in a non-regulated or low hazard laboratory pack with compatible chemicals.

What to record about the container is simple here: the form, the size, whether the Gram kit is intact and the setting. A prep room or lab store uses 16 05 06* for this dye, and clearing human healthcare stock uses 18 01 06*. Tell the collector if the stock is powder or a ready counterstain, since the two are packed as different lines. Keep bottles upright in their boxes where they are sound. Safranin is not to be tipped into a sink to clear a shelf, and it should not be mixed with other stains to consolidate bottles, because a mixed bottle is harder to describe than two small ones.

Usually held as: solid, Gram stain.

Part-used bottles and full containers are both fine. Tell us the size and how many, and an estimate is enough for a first price.