Hazmat Transportation: Packaging Safety

Course Description:

The federal hazardous materials, or hazmat, transportation regulations were developed to ensure the safe shipment of hazardous materials. Today, we’re going to talk about a very important aspect of safe hazmat transportation: packaging. Hazmat must be properly packaged so it doesn’t leak or create some other hazard during transportation. The U.S. Department of Transportation, or DOT, says that most incidents involving the release of hazardous materials are the result of human error, including improper packaging. Because you are involved in packaging hazmat, the more you know about how to package it for transport, the safer the shipments of hazmat you’re involved with will be.

Why “Hazmat Transportation: Packaging Safety” Matters:

You must insure that you prepare hazardous materials safely for shipment by:

Identifying the packaging requirements of the hazardous materials transportation regulations;

Determining hazard class, ID number, packing group, and other essential information about hazardous materials to be shipped;

Selecting appropriate packaging for shipments; and

Packaging shipments in compliance with the regulations.

Key Points:

At the completion of this module, the participant will be able to:

• Recognize the essential role of the hazmat table in choosing proper packaging for specific materials
• Select appropriate packaging that complies with the hazmat regulations
• Identify the basic packaging requirements and those for bulk and non bulk packages
• Determine the hazard class; the ID number; the packing group, and other critical information needed for hazmat to be shipped
• Determine when and how packaging can be reused