Packed dangerous goods

Dangerous goods are substances and objects that can when transported cause harm to people, animals, the environment or property if not handled properly.

Dangerous goods are categorised into the following classes:

Class 1	Explosive substances and articles (e.g. fireworks, ammunition)
Class 2	Gases (e.g. oxygen, carbon dioxide)
Class 3	Flammable liquids (e.g. petrol, ethanol)
Class 4.1	Flammable solids (e.g. matches, metal powder)
Class 4.2	Substances liable to spontaneous combustion (e.g. coal, fish meal)
Class 4.3	Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases (e.g. potassium, Magnesium powder)
Class 5.1	Oxidizing substances1) (e.g. ammonium nitrate, calcium hypochlorite)
Class 5.2	Organic peroxides2) (e.g. dibenzoylperoxide, peroxyacetic acid)
Class 6.1	Toxic substances (e.g. mercury compounds, cyanides)
Class 6.2	Infectious substances (e.g. bacteria, live virus, laboratory samples)
Class 7	Radioactive materials (e.g. uranium, hexafluoride, thorium)
Class 8	Corrosive substances (e.g. batteries, acetic acid)
Class 9	Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles (e.g. environmentally hazardous substances, asbestos)
Marine pollutants	Products that have properties that pollute water (Marine Pollutants) shall be classified in one of the preceding classes, but shall also be handled and “classified” as water pollutants when carried on ships. If the product has no dangerous properties other than it is a marine pollutant, it shall be classified as Class 9.

1) Substances that even if they are not necessarily inherently flammable can as a rule cause or contribute to the combustion of other materials by emitting oxygen.
2) Organic peroxides are thermically unstable substances that can undergo exothermal self-accelerating decomposition, burn rapidly, be sensitive to impact or friction, react dangerously with other substances, and cause eye injury.

A product may also be classified as a combination of more that one of the classes listed above.

The substances and articles classified as dangerous goods are specified in the regulations to be applied to maritime transport of dangerous goods in packaged form, the IMDG Code (International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code), which has been incorporated in Swedish legislation. Test shall be performed on the product according to criteria set in the IMDG Code to determine whether substances and articles not listed in the code are dangerous goods.

Consignor: The consignor is the entity which gives dangerous goods to another for carriage or which carries such goods on own account.

The regulations for carriage of dangerous goods in packaged form on the road and by air (ADR, RID and ICAO-TI) apply essentially the same criteria for classification of dangerous goods. This means that most products have the same classification regardless of the mode of transport used for carriage. There are certain differences however, in part due to that goods are exposed to different risks and stresses depending on mode of transport.

With regard to maritime transport of dangerous goods, a distinction is made between packaged goods and goods carried in bulk. Packaged goods are enclosed in containers (e.g. barrels, pails, boxes, vehicles, containers), while bulk carriage means that the goods are loaded directly into the cargo hold of the ship with no other containment, i.e., unpackaged, and often in large lots.