Did you know that 87.1 percent of all serious hazardous materials incidents occur during transit?
Transporting hazardous materials is an essential part of the global industry. Safe working practices and codes are crucial to maintaining employee safety and public health.
If you need to transport hazardous chemicals, you must familiarize yourself with the procedures that exist to keep everyone safe. That’s where our simple guide comes into play.
Read on for the essential guide to transporting hazardous materials.
What Is a Hazard?
A hazardous material is any substance or material that could endanger the public or handlers during transportation. Common hazardous materials include:
- Chemicals
- Cryogens
- Gas cylinders
- Radioactive materials
Special measures must be undertaken when dealing with hazardous materials. That way, the risk of loss, theft, fire, explosion, or toxic exposure is significantly reduced.
Read up on Codes
You must ensure you are up to date with the regulations surrounding hazardous material transit before shipping any goods.
Hazardous materials must be transported by a Transportation Services or a Department of Transportation (DOT) authorized carrier. They cannot be brought onto public transit or carried in a personal vehicle.
The only exception to this rule is certain institutes that need to transport small amounts of hazardous materials. In that case, they will use a dedicated vehicle with their own health and safety procedures in place.
Take Care With Flammable Materials
Pressurized hazardous liquids and materials that could cause an explosion or fire should be treated with extra caution.
Never store or transport materials that could react with each other together. Observe weight and volume limits at all times. Ensure extinguishing equipment is on should an incident occur.
Safeguard With Training
The key to safely handling workplace hazards is effective and thorough employee training. Your workers need to know how to safely handle the materials on-site and how to react in the event of an incident.
Alongside all mandatory requirements, your training should be geared toward the kind of hazardous chemicals you handle regularly. If you work with hazardous chemicals, benzene awareness training should be part of the qualifying course.
Use Clear Labeling
Storing and transporting workplace hazards is much safer with a clear labeling system. You should mark every hazard with a picture notice, then info about its contents and reactivity score.
Keep a corresponding chemical log with matching procedures nearby.
Transporting Hazardous Materials
So, that’s the rundown on how to transport hazardous materials safely. When you work with harmful substances, you are responsible for the safety of your employees and the public.
It is up to you to ensure you follow all the relevant safety procedures and prevent anybody from getting hurt. By following our guide, you will be on the way to safe transit today.
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