3.2 Storing Chemical Products
Key Takeaways
Store chemical products closed and upright, in a cool place away from direct sun, heat sources, and open flame. Follow the label. The Pennsylvania Code does not publish one storage temperature for every salon chemical.
Do not store chemicals in food containers. When a label says to keep an oxidizer away from flammables, store those products apart.
49 Pa. Code § 7.91 requires sharp implements to be stored upright with the points down or in a protective case. That rule is implement storage, not chemical storage.
49 Pa. Code § 7.71b(a)(13) requires a nail technology salon to have a multipurpose fire extinguisher suitable for Class A, B, and C fires. Class B covers flammable liquids such as acetone and alcohol.
3.2 Storing Chemical Products
A labeled bottle still has to be stored in the condition the label assumed. An open can on a sunny windowsill, a bottle on its side, or a product poured into a drink cup has already left that condition. The Pennsylvania Code does not publish a universal salon storage temperature. Follow the label for any temperature limit, and keep chemical products closed, upright, cool, and away from direct sun, heat, and open flame.
Closed, upright, cool, and away from flame
Store products closed. An open acetone can fills the cabinet with vapor. An open monomer bottle spills on the next hand that reaches past it. Store them upright so the cap does not weep and destroy the label. Keep them in a cool area, out of direct sun, and away from heat sources such as a heater or a lamp that bakes the shelf. Keep them away from open flame. A candle on the retail shelf, or a lighter left beside the remover, is the wrong neighbor for a flammable liquid.
Follow the label when it gives a temperature range or says to protect the product from heat or freezing. Chapter 7 does not replace that label with one number of degrees for every chemical. The monomer label and the acetone label are each the authority for that bottle. Some labels also say to keep oxidizers away from flammables. An oxidizer can feed a fire. A flammable liquid is fuel. When the label says to separate them, do not park the oxidizer against the acetone because both happen to be liquids.
Not in a food container
Do not store salon chemicals in food containers. A sports bottle, or a jar that still says juice, can be picked up by someone who thinks it is a drink. Those containers also hide the product identity. If a product must move into a smaller bottle, that bottle is a secondary container from the labeling rules: closed, upright, and marked with the identity and the hazard. It is not a recycled drink bottle with the soda name still showing.
Acetone and alcohol are the flammable liquids a nail technician handles most often. Both evaporate, and both can ignite. Keep the stock cans closed and cool. Keep only the working amount at the table, and cap it between uses. A soak-off bowl left open under a heat source is a storage failure even when the stock can was put away correctly.
Sharp tools are a different sentence
49 Pa. Code § 7.91(c) requires sharp implements to be stored upright with the points down or in a protective case. That sentence is implement storage. Nippers and scissors point down, or they sit in a case, so a hand in the drawer is not cut. It does not set an acetone temperature, and it does not say to leave disinfectant open. Points down means tools. Closed, upright, cool, and away from flame means chemicals. The same section still requires a well-ventilated, orderly salon. Moving air does not replace a closed cap.
Class A, Class B, and Class C
49 Pa. Code § 7.71b(a)(13) requires a nail technology salon to keep one multipurpose fire extinguisher suitable for Class A, B, and C fires. Class A is ordinary combustibles: paper, cloth, wood, and trash. Class B is flammable liquids. Acetone and alcohol are flammable liquids, so Class B is the class that matches them. Class C is energized electrical equipment, such as a plugged-in electric file or lamp. Class A does not cover a puddle of acetone. The extinguisher has to be the kind the code names, and someone at the table has to be able to reach it.
Jars, eyes, and the kit
Do not store disinfectant jars above eye level. A bump can tip the jar and send liquid into the eyes. The labeled first aid kit in 49 Pa. Code § 7.71b(a)(4) includes eyewash and burn ointment because splashes and burns are injuries the salon is expected to treat at once. The kit is the backup after a spill. It does not make a high shelf acceptable. Chapter 7 lists those kit items. It does not publish a storage temperature, and a stocked kit does not authorize food containers for chemicals.
Salon scenario
At closing, Sam finds capped acetone in the afternoon sun beside alcohol and an open dish of remover. A loose disinfectant jar sits above eye level. Nippers stand points-up in a cup, and a drink bottle holds monomer. Sam moves the flammable liquids into a cool cabinet away from the window and the heater, caps every container, and returns the monomer to its labeled stock bottle. The disinfectant jar comes down below eye level. The nippers go into a protective case under § 7.91. Sam checks that the A-B-C extinguisher is in reach and that the labeled kit still has eyewash and burn ointment.
Storage choices
| Situation | Correct storage | Common mix-up |
|---|---|---|
| Acetone, alcohol, monomer, primer, disinfectant | Closed, upright, cool, out of sun, away from heat and open flame; follow the label | A single Chapter 7 temperature for every product |
| Label says separate an oxidizer from flammables | Store them apart | Every liquid shares one tray |
| Product poured out of the original can | Secondary container with identity and hazard information | A food container or drink bottle |
| Sharp implements | Upright, points down, or in a protective case (§ 7.91) | Treated as a chemical rule |
| Fire in acetone or alcohol | Class B rating on the required A-B-C extinguisher | Class A, which is paper, cloth, and wood |
| Disinfectant jar | Closed and below eye level | Stored high because the kit has eyewash |
Chapter 7 does not add a statewide storage temperature. Follow the label.
How should chemical products be stored in a nail salon?
Above eye level so a passing bump cannot reach the disinfectant jar
In open food containers on a sunny windowsill so the labels stay warm
Closed and upright, cool, away from sun, heat, and flame, as labeled
At one temperature that Chapter 7 of the Pennsylvania Code sets for every product
49 Pa. Code § 7.91 says sharp implements are stored upright with the points down or in a protective case. What does that sentence cover?
Separation of oxidizers from flammable liquids on a shelf
Implement storage, which is separate from chemical storage
How high a disinfectant jar may sit above eye level
The storage temperature for acetone and other solvents
A nail technology salon must have a multipurpose fire extinguisher suitable for Class A, B, and C fires under 49 Pa. Code § 7.71b(a)(13). Which class covers flammable liquids such as acetone and alcohol?
Class D, because a solvent fire is treated as a metal fire
Class A
Class C
Class B
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.