What is a placard load for dangerous goods transport?

A placard load refers to a vehicle carrying over a certain amount of dangerous goods (other than explosives, infectious and radioactive substances) that is required to display placards (i.e. Class label or Emergency Information Panel) during transport.

A vehicle must be placarded if it is carrying:

• dangerous goods in a receptacle, other than an article, with a capacity of more than 500 L or more than 500 kg,

or

• an aggregate quantity of dangerous goods of 250 or more of:
  • UN Division 2.1 goods (other than aerosols), for example LP Gas or acetylene cylinders or
  • UN Division 2.3 goods, for example ammonia or chlorine gas, or
  • Packing Group I dangerous goods, for example, sodium cyanide, carbon disulfide.

or

• an aggregate quantity of dangerous goods of 1,000 or more.

Exception

An aggregate quantity of dangerous goods of less than 2 000 that consists only of the following dangerous goods is not a placard load:

• dangerous goods that are packed in limited quantities, and

• dangerous goods that are:
  • fireworks that are bon bons, party poppers or sparklers with a classification code of 1.4S
  • domestic smoke detectors containing radioactive material
  • lighters or lighter refills containing flammable gas
  • fire extinguishers with compressed or liquefied gas, up to a net mass of 23 kg.

Definitions:

Aggregate quantity means the total of:

• the number of kilograms of:
  • solid dangerous goods; and
  • articles (including aerosols), in the load; and

• the number of litres or kilograms, whichever is used in the transport documentation for the load to describe the goods, of liquid dangerous goods in the load; and

• the total capacity in litres of the receptacles in the load containing dangerous goods of UN Class 2 (other than aerosols)

Dangerous goods packed in limited quantities mean:

• the goods are packed in accordance with the ADG Code (7.5 edition) Chapter 3.4

• the quantity of dangerous goods in each inner packaging or in each article does not exceed the quantity specified, or referred to, in column 7 of the Dangerous Goods List for those goods.

Typically, these are small packages.