What are Dangerous Goods?
Dangerous Goods are articles, products or substances that, because of hazardous chemical or physical properties, may pose a significant risk to people, property or the environment. They can cause injury, death or serious damage, and consequently it is important that they are stored and handled in a safe manner.
Dangerous Goods include materials that are: Toxic; Flammable; Radioactive; Explosive; Oxidising; Asphyxiating, Corrosive or Pathogenic.
Also included are physical conditions such as compressed gases and liquids or hot materials, including all goods containing such materials or chemicals that render them hazardous in specific circumstances.
Dangerous Goods can be identified in two ways:
- Check the packaging for a ‘diamond’ shaped label with a symbol & number on it. This is referred to as the “placard” and identifies the hazard i.e. ‘Flammable 2’ would be a red diamond found on most aerosols used in & around the house & workplace, from hair spray to WD40.
- Locate the ‘UN’ number. This is a specific number that is assigned to all internationally recognised Dangerous Goods.
Australia uses the standard international UN numbers but with a few slightly different signs on the back, front and sides of vehicles carrying dangerous goods. We use the same “Hazchem” codes as the UK to provide advisory information to emergency services personnel in the event of an emergency.
Dangerous goods are broken down into “Classes” according to highest risk. There are 9 classes in total, each indicated by a diamond-shaped sign, which is referred to as a ‘placard’.
The large sign that is evident on fuel tankers is an ‘EIP’ or ‘Emergency Information Panel’ and also displays the contact number for specialist advice.
Dangerous goods in containers that are over 500 Kgs or litres that need to be transported by road or rail must have with them the necessary ‘shipping documents’ as required by the regulations. An example of the documents required is the MSDS or ‘Material Safety Data Sheet’.
This document outlines what the particular substance or product is, the “proper shipping name” & what it is capable of – from inhalation through to ingestion and if fumes are an issue the relevant safe distance that is required.
If the dangerous goods are required to be transported by road or rail, and the containers are in excess of 500kgs / litres, the driver of the vehicle must hold a valid “Dangerous Goods licence” and the vehicle must also be registered with the “competent authority” of the state .
A vehicle that displays the ‘placards’ for dangerous goods is indicating to all:
- That the vehicle has at least 1 container of Dangerous Goods
- What class those DG’s are.
Insurance:
Vehicles transporting placard quantities of Dangerous Goods by road are required to be covered by a public liability policy of not less than $5mil. The owner of the vehicle commits an offence if he allows a vehicle he is responsible for to carry dangerous goods without the proper licencing, documentation and registration in place.
High Risk Sites
Organisations that store and handle DG such as fuel (e.g. LPG, petrol and diesel) or other chemicals in depots may be at a high risk of significant breaches of their legislative requirements, not to mention putting their employees, contractors, the public or the environment at unnecessary risk of injury, illness or contamination.
Typically, fuels are stored for purposes such as refuelling plant and equipment (e.g. vehicles, tractor mowers, brush cutters, generators or fire pumps). Hazardous activities may involve decanting from tanks or drums into vehicles or smaller containers to be used in the field, or mixing of constituents such as two stroke oil and fuel. This may sound innocuous enough, but issues such as control of the build-up of static electricity and the suitability of the equipment used for decanting should be assessed before undertaking any decanting tasks. Failure to do so could result in fire, serious injury or even death.
Safety Issues
Some of the issues consistently arising when conducting audits in both public and private organisations are as follows:
• A lack of formal procedures in relation to the storage and handling of DG;
• Out-dated or non-existent Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS);
• Incomplete or non-existent DG registers;
• Lack of documented risk assessments;
• Inadequate training for those required to handle DG;
• Lack of knowledge of Placarding, and Manifest quantities and requirements;
• Inappropriate containers for chemical storage (e.g. food containers);
• Inadequately labelled chemical containers;
• A lack of safety showers and eye wash facilities;
• Inappropriate storage facilities, or inadequately ventilated structures for the storage of Class 3 Flammable Liquids;
• Lack of appropriate spill containment;
• Lack of provision for the clean up of spills; and
• Lack of or inappropriate fire fighting equipment.
Some DG’s can react and burn violently, explode and/or emit toxic fumes and gases if they are mixed together, spilt or involved in fire.
Global Transport Automotive Insurance Solutions would like to thank Noel Arnold & Associates for the information presented in this article.
