In the US, hazardous goods called hazmat come under nine classes categorized by the UN. The UN or United Nations is the world’s largest and most familiar intergovernmental organization to maintain international security and peace. Many classes have divisions depending on their danger to peoples’ lives, property, and environment. Hence it is mandatory to follow many rules for transporting these goods worldwide. DOT or the Department of Transportation has many regulations for transporting the nine classed hazardous goods in the US. Only the best logistic companies like Go Hazmat Hub will comply with the safe transportation of hazardous goods across the US and globally.
What are the classed hazardous goods?
Handling hazardous goods and their transportation is dangerous if not properly controlled. Hence, to identify the dangerous nature of the goods, the UN categorized them into nine classes. Knowing each hazmat class of the goods, the trained and qualified team of Go Hazmat Hub will pack, label, and transport them with care and concern to reach their destination quickly and safely.
The nine classes of hazardous goods, including
Class 1 hazardous goods – Explosives
Explosives come under class 1 hazardous goods and are the most dangerous of all the classes. While reacting with other chemicals, the class 1 hazmat can conflagrate or detonate rapidly. The significant reason is that the explosives have designed molecules to change the state rapidly. Upon reacting with other chemicals or high temperatures, the usual rapid state can convert into hot gas, causing an explosion. There are six sub-divisions of class 1 hazardous goods depending on their reaction upon initiation with other chemicals and temperature. Examples of the class 1 hazmat include fireworks, igniters, flares, ammunition, cartridges, rockets, TNT, RDX, etc. The utmost care and compliance with all regulations are essential for handling class 1 hazardous goods.
Class 2 hazardous goods – Gases
Gases in the liquefied form, compressed gases, a mix of gases with other vapors, refrigerated gases, and products charged with gases come under class -2. They can inflame when reacting with oxygen and potentially asphyxiants, corrosive and toxic to humans. Examples of class 1 gases include fire extinguishers, aerosols, compressed air, refrigerant gas, fertilizer ammunition solution, natural gas, oil gas, petroleum gases, helium, etc.
Class 3 hazardous goods – Flammable liquids
Because of being volatile and combustible, flammable liquids pose a severe threat to propagate or cause severe conflagrations in class 3. They are liquids, a mix of liquids with solids that need lower temperatures than others. If they are kept under temperatures at more than 65 degrees Celsius, they reach the flashpoint to ignite. Hence transporting flammable liquids is a challenging task for any logistic service. Go Hazmat Hub is professional in transporting flammable liquid gases. A few examples of class 3 gases include perfumery products and acetone used in nail polishes, adhesives, varnishes, alcohols, petrol, diesel, and liquid biofuels.
Class 4 hazardous goods – Flammable Solids
Flammable solids are dangerous “when wet materials” come under class 4 as they are combustible easily. Moreover, a few are self-reactive and spontaneously heat up, causing massive damage. Hence it is essential to take precautions while transporting class 4 flammable solids as they may cause a fire. Examples of class 4 flammable solids include sodium batteries, metal powders, seed cake or oil-bearing seeds, alkali metals, aluminum phosphide, matches, firelighters, camphor, activated carbon, oily fabrics, phosphor, sulfur, etc.
Class 5 hazardous goods – Oxidizers & Organic Peroxides
The high oxygen content oxidizers and organic peroxides come under class 5 because of their flammable and combustible nature. Since extinguishing the fire because of any leaks or spills makes them the most dangerous goods. In addition, since organic peroxides are thermally unstable may exude heat during exothermic autocatalytic decomposition. Examples of class 5 include lead nitrate, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, magnesium peroxide, etc.
Class 6 hazardous goods – Infectious & toxic substances
Toxic and infectious substances that are harmful to humans to cause even death come under class 6. By skin contact or inhaling or swallowing, these substances may cause serious injury as they contain pathogens like bacteria, viruses, parasites, rickettsia, fungi, etc. The most commonly transported class 6 infectious and toxic substances include biomedical, medical, clinical wastes, biological cultures, samples, alkaloids, acids, etc.
Class 7 hazardous goods – Radioactive materials
Amy material containing radionuclides is radioactive material with atoms in the unstable nucleus to change structure spontaneously to cause danger to humans. A few examples of commonly transported class 7 radioactive materials include radioactive ore, mixed fission products, density gauges, yellow cakes, and isotopes.
Class 8 hazardous goods – corrosives
Corrosives, with their degrading nature upon coming into contact with each other to produce positive chemical effects, come under class 8. Because of chemical actions, these goods disintegrate and degrade other substances on contact. Hence they can be of grave danger to humans and needs more caution to transport them. Examples of class 8 corrosives include batteries, flux, chlorides, fuel cell cartridge, fire extinguisher charges, battery fluid, paints, etc.
Class 9 hazardous goods – Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods
All dangerous goods not covered by the above eight classes come under class 9 as miscellaneous dangerous goods. They may include environmentally dangerous substances, genetically modified micro-organisms, organisms, aviation, magnetized materials, etc. A few examples of class 9 miscellaneous dangerous goods include dry ice, blue asbestos, battery-powered equipment, etc.
Go Hazmat Hub have enough experience and expertise in the safe transportation of all hazardous class good across America and worldwide. They take all precautions for safe transportation with all documentation and other requirements for complying with all the rules and regulations.
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