Workplace Health and Safety identifies nine different dangerous goods classes. They also enforce training and skills that are necessary in order to come into contact with those dangerous goods on any level. Even those who will write documentation on the dangerous goods are required to have a given type of training. The nine dangerous goods classes which are identified by Workplace Health and Safety are:
- Flammable gas: gases which may be ignited in air. They can cause a fire or an explosion. Some examples are natural gas, petroleum gas or hydrogen.
- Flammable Liquids: liquids that may produce a gas which can be ignited on contact with air. These include unleaded gasoline, kerosene and acetone.
- Flammable Solids: substances that may be ignited simply by friction or by being touched in some way. They may also ignite from other ignition sources.
- Substances that in contact with water emit flammable gases
- Oxidising Agents: substances that can cause serious damage to the body if touched or splashed on the skin.
- Toxic Gases: gases that can, on inhalation of the gas, result in serious injury or death.
- Corrosive Substances: items which are capable of causing the degradation and destruction of living tissue, steel and other materials on contact. Some may give off irritating vapours affecting the eyes, airways and skin.
- Explosives: substances or materials that have the ability to explode as a result of a chemical reaction with other substances or materials it may come in contact with.
- Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods: items which do not fit into any of the other categories but which may cause damage to humans who come into contact with them.
Each item has given requirements that are necessary in order to work with the dangerous goods or to see them transported. There are also some identified dangerous goods which are classed as too dangerous to transport. These are of course in a class by themselves.
In order to safely work with any dangerous goods, whether you and your employees are actively working with the substance or are simply working with the documentation of the item, you do need to have some level of skill in recognition of the placards and other methods used for transport.
Among those things which are required of you and your employees are the knowledge of the documentation necessary and recognizing which documents and which placards inform you of the nature of the substance. To comply with all of the necessary governmental requirements for safe handling of dangerous goods for both aviation and maritime industries do online dangerous goods training with AlertForce today.