DANGEROUS PRODUCTS
Dangerous goods are any goods that, as they are explosive, such as compressed or liquefied gases, flammable, oxidizing, poisonous, infectious, radioactive, corrosive or pollutant, may represent hazard to workers, facilities or general environment.
IMDG (International Maritime Dangerous Goods) is a code developed to standardize the dangerous good transport worldwide. Moreover, it provides greater care and lower good accident risk, as it sets forth all the conditions for conditioning, packaging, labeling, documentation, stowage, and all process to the recipient concerning dangerous goods.
The dangerous goods are rated in several classes according to their hazard related to the environment and all beings that can be harmed. They are rated from 1 to 9, as follows:
CLASS 1
Explosives
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1.1 Substances and goods that have explosion hazards.
1.2 Substances and goods that have projection, but not explosion hazard.
1.3 Substances and goods which have flammable hazard and low explosion and projection hazard, although not having a hazardous explosive mass.
1.4 Substances and products which do not have significant hazard.
1.5 Highly insensitive substances which have a hazardous explosive mass.
1.6 Extremely insensitive goods which do not have a hazardous explosive mass.
CLASS 2
Gases
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Sub-class 2.1
Flammable Gases |
Sub-class 2.2
Non-flammable, non-toxic gases |
Sub-class 2.3
Toxic Gases |
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2.1 Flammable gases: gases that at 20°C and standard pressure are flammable whenever in 13% mix or less, in volume, with the air or that have a minimum 12% air flammability range, regardless of the flammability lower level.
2.2 Non-toxic and non-flammable gases: asphyxiating gases, or that do not fit another sub-class.
2.3 Toxic gases: acknowledged or supposedly toxic and corrosive gases that are hazardous to people´s health.
CLASS 3
Flammable Liquids
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Liquids, liquid mixes or liquids that have solids in solution or suspension, which produce flammable steam at temperatures of up to 60.5°C, in closed recipient trial, or up to 65.6ºC, in open recipient trial, or also the liquid explosives hardened dissolved or suspended in water or other liquid substances.
CLASS 4
Flammable solids
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Sub-class 4.1
Flammable solids |
Sub-class 4.2
Substances subject to spontaneous combustion |
Sub-class 4.3
Substance that whenever contacts water releases
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Substances that can cause spontaneous combustion and substances that, in aqueous means, can release flammable gases
4.1 Flammable solids and self-reactive substances: solids that, under transport conditions, are easily combustible, or that by attrition may cause fire or influence that; self-reagent substances that can undergo strongly exothermic reaction; hardened solid explosives that can explode if they are not sufficiently diluted.
4.2 Substances that cause spontaneous combustion: substances subject to spontaneous heating under standard transport conditions, or heating in contact with the air, which can ignite themselves.
4.3 Substances that, in contact with water, release flammable gases: substances that, by means with interaction with water, can get spontaneously flammable or release flammable gases in dangerous amounts.
CLASS 5
Oxidizing substances and organic peroxides
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Sub-class 5.1
Oxidizing substances |
Sub-class 5.2
Organic peroxides |
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5.1 Oxidizing substances: substances that can, generally, by the oxygen release, cause other material combustion or can influence that.
5.2 Organic peroxides: powerful oxidizing agents, considered as hydrogen peroxide product, thermally unstable that can undergo self-accelerating exothermic decomposition.
CLASS 6
Infectious and toxic substances
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Sub-class 6.1
Toxic substances |
Sub-class 6.2
Infectious substances |
6.1 Toxic substances: substances that can cause death, extreme injuries or damage to human health, if ingested or inhaled, or if contact the skin.
6.2 Infectious substances: substances that have or may contain pathogens capable of causing infectious diseases in human being or in animals.
CLASS 7
Radioactive materials
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Any material or substance that contains radionuclides, which concentration of activity and total shipment activity (radiation) exceed the values set forth.
CLASS 8
Corrosive substances
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Substances that, by chemical action, cause severe damage whenever in contact with alive tissues or, in case of leakage, damage or even destroy other goods or the vehicle itself.
CLASS 9
Miscellaneous dangerous substances and goods
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The ones that present, during the transport, a hazard not included in any other class.