Shipping Hazardous Materials

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Helpful Information for hazardous shipping

The shipping of hazardous materials is heavily regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATA regulations are always equal to or more stringent than the D.O.T. regulations. The IATA regulations govern air transport not only in the US, but worldwide as well.

The shipping of hazardous materials can pose a serious danger to anyone who might come in contact with the shipment. Therefore, it is critical that one carefully follow the rules so that any possible unsafe condition is minimized. The D.O.T. can and does impose severe penalties that includes huge fines and possible jail time for anyone who knowingly or unknowingly violates these regulations.

The regulations that govern the shipping of hazardous materials are very detailed. The instructions given below are only meant to serve as a guideline and will work for only the simplest of shipments.

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Identifying Hazardous Materials

Identify whether the item being shipped is considered to be hazardous by consulting Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 172.101 defines the terms and lists the materials that are denoted as hazardous.

If a chemical is not on this list it is not considered hazardous WITH THE FOLLOWING EXCEPTION: If you are synthesizing a new material, the onus is on the researcher to best characterize any possible hazard and to assign a hazard class and Proper Shipping Name. There is help available to the researcher at D.O.T. headquarters in Washington DC. Among the important attributes that this list delineates is the Proper Shipping Name (PSN), the UN number, and the hazard class.

Is This a Hazardous Substance?

1.	Is the shipment large enough to be considered a Hazardous Substance having a "Reportable Quantity?"
2.	Is the shipment small enough to be defined as a "Small Quantity" and thus qualify for an exception?
3.	Are there any "Special Provisions" associated with the shipping of this material?

If an item is considered a hazardous material, further investigation is necessary. The above terms have very specific meanings.

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Packing Groups

Once a substance is verified as hazardous, the material must be properly packaged. There are three packing groups, each having a different set of criteria.

1.	A material assigned to Packing Group l indicates that there is a high degree of danger associated with that chemical.
2.	A Packing Group lll designation indicates the least amount of danger considering that it still is a hazardous material.
3.	The general packaging requirements are delineated in Section 178 of CFR 49.

For many items, a simpler resource is the IATA packaging instructions. As was stated, these instructions will always be equal to or more stringent than the D.O.T. regulations. However, since air transport is the most restricted mode of shipping, many materials can only be shipped by ground and, therefore, lack IATA packaging instructions.

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Labeling

Under most circumstances, packages that contain hazardous materials need to be properly labeled for shipping. The label designates the type of hazard the material presents. The following are the officially designated hazard categories:

1.1 – Mass Explosive Hazard
1.2 – Projection Hazard
1.3 – Fire and/or Minor Blast/Minor Projection Hazard
1.4 – Minor Explosion Hazard
1.5 – Very Insensitive With Mass Explosion Hazard
1.6 – Extremely Insensitive; No Mass Explosion Hazard
2.1 – Flammable Gases
2.2 – Nonflammable Gases
2.3 – Toxic Gases
3 – Flammable Liquids
4.1 – Flammable Solids
4.2 – Spontaneously Combustible
4.3 – Dangerous When Wet
5.1 – Oxidizing Substances
5.2 – Organic Peroxides
6.1 – Toxic Substances
6.2 – Infectious Substance
7 – Radioactive White-I
7 – Radioactive Yellow-II
7 – Radioactive Yellow-III
7 – Empty (empty packages of radioactives)
8 – Corrosive
9 – Miscellaneous Hazardous Goods

These categories are explained in Section 172.400 of CFR 49. These labels CANNOT be handmade. They have to be purchased from a printing distributor that has manufactured them according to the DOT specifications for size, shape, and color. On occasion, section 172.101 will delineate that a hazardous material will have a primary hazard plus one or more secondary hazards. For example the primary hazard for methyl vinyl ketone (UN1251) is 6.1, it’s poisonous. However, it is also flammable and corrosive. In cases like this, there are definite rules regarding how to label such a shipment.

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Marking & Placarding

Marking Requirements

Proper Shipping Name

UN Number

Consignee's Name & Address

Consignor's Name & Address

Placarding Tips

Shipper ensures truck placards

Carrier ensures truck placards

Use a familiar carrier

At times there could be other markings such as Fragile, Do Not Tip, Do Not Wet, or Biohazard. All of the rules are delineated in Section 172.300 of CFR 49. Placarding requirements are delineated in Section 172.500 of CFR 49.

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Shipping Papers

The preparation of this paperwork can be found in Section 172.20 of CFR 49. There are two primary ways shipping papers are handled for hazardous shipments:

1.	Two sets of paperwork: airbill (or waybill) and a Shipper’s Declaration of Hazardous Goods.
2.	A combined form of the previous two. For example, Fedex does this.

A 24-hour emergency telephone number that can be called if there is a crisis must be listed on all of the paperwork. This way, if the truck transporting your hazardous material has an accident, if there is any question regarding the nature of the hazard or its cleanup, you can be contacted.

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