Hazmat Safety Awareness Tip: The Overlooked Marking Requirement for Shipping Hazmat

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Packaging is the foremost element of all shippers' responsibilities in the safe transportation of hazmat and dangerous goods. This is particularly true when it comes to shipping hazmat by air. Packages that travel by air are subjected to a variety of conditions that are usually more severe than other modes of transport. Some of these conditions include drastic temperature changes, intense vibration and extreme drops in atmospheric pressure. Reductions in pressure tend to cause leakage of liquids or even bursting of the packagings during flight!

So what does this have to do with marking requirements? Well, remembering that the intent of safe hazmat shipping is to ensure that a hazardous material is not released during transport, a shipper must not use packaging for air shipments unless that packaging meets the applicable testing requirements and is closed in a way that ensures resistance to pressure changes throughout the transportation cycle.

Most shippers of hazmat purchase UN standard packagings (e.g. packagings which conform to both the UN Model Regulations and the HMR) for this purpose. These performance-oriented packagings require the application of UN Specification Markings. Normally applied by the packaging manufacturer, these marks are still ultimately the responsibility of the shipper.

Trained hazardous materials shippers are aware of the significance of the UN specification mark, but often overlook the following component:

If your business uses single packagings (e.g. drums, jerricans, etc.) to ship liquid hazmat or dangerous goods by air, a single packaging must have a marked test pressure of not less than...

• 250 kPa for liquids in Packing Group I,
• 80 kPa for liquids in Packing Group III of Class 3 or Division 6.1, and
• 100 kPa for other liquids, or
• a pressure related to the vapor pressure of the liquid to be conveyed, whichever is greater (see reference 49 CFR 173.27(c) and IATA DGR 5.0.2.14 and DGR 6.3.5).

To learn more about a shipper's legal responsibilities for shipping hazmat, UN packaging, hazmat marking requirements and more, the Bureau of Dangerous Goods offers several hazmat training courses for both novices and veterans.

We are also proud to introduce Hazmat University, a completely online hazmat training program designed to bring the same quality of Bureau of Dangerous Goods training that has been provided in classrooms for over 25 years to shippers, freight forwarders and carriers via the Internet.

Proper classification of dangerous goods transported by aircraft is the first step towards compliance

The proper classification of dangerous goods to be transported by aircraft is the first step towards achieving regulatory compliance and promoting a safe work environment for everyone involved. Classifying dangerous goods creates a standard method of universal communication regarding the type of dangerous good or hazardous material being transported. This is especially important because most dangerous goods are transported in opague or non-transparent containers and packagings, making it near impossible to identify the contents inside. By properly classifying a dangerous goods shipment along with the correct labels and markings, we can help reduce the risk of accidents including spills, explosions, corrosion, radiation and more.

The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, along with the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, classifies dangerous goods into nine distinct class hazards. Some of these class hazards are further divided into divisions, each with specific criteria to classify the division from others.

These are the nine class hazards and their respective divisions:

• Class 1: Explosives
  • Division 1.1: Articles and substances having a mass explosion hazard
  • Division 1.2: Articles and substances having a projection hazard but not a mass explosion hazard
  • Division 1.3: Articles and substances having a fire hazard, a minor blast hazard and/or a minor projection hazard but not a mass explosion hazard
  • Division 1.4: Articles and substances presenting no significant hazard
  • Division 1.5: Very insensitive substances having a mass explosion hazard
  • Division 1.6: Extremely insensitive articles
• Class 2: Gases
  • Division 2.1: Flammable Gas
  • Division 2.2: Non-flammable, non-toxic gas
  • Toxic gas
• Class 3: Flammable Liquids
• Class 4: Flammable Solids; Substances Liable to Spontaneous Combustion; Substances Which, in Contact with Water, Emit Flammable Gases
  • Division 4.1: Flammable solids, self-reactive substances and solid desnsitized explosives
  • Division 4.2: Substances liable to spontaneous combustion
  • Division 4.3: Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases
• Class 5: Oxidizing Substances and Organic Peroxides
  • Division 5.1: Oxidizers
  • Division 5.2: Organic peroxides
• Class 6: Toxic and Infectious Subsssstances
  • Division 6.1: Toxic substances
  • Division 6.2: Infectious substances
• Class 7: Radioactive Material
• Class 8: Corrosives
• Class 9: Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods

There are dangerous goods and hazardous materials that have multiple class hazards assigned. Section 3.10 in the IATA DGR describes the criteria for assigning a dangerous good with multiple hazards. In this case, the most restrictive of packing groups between the hazard classes must be assigned to the dangerous goods.

The Bureau of Dangerous Goods, Ltd. provides classroom, on-site and online dangerous goods training solutions for business of any size around the world. Our courses are designed to train employees on proper identification and classification of dangerous goods for transport by air, surface and vessel.

HazmatUniversity.com is our designated online hazmat training application for simplifying the training process by bringing course material and instruction to you. Take online courses at your own pace, at your own convenience, and maintain regulatory compliance.