Directions for Shipping Chemicals
Directions for Shipping Chemicals
Monday, February 3, 2014
Shipping Chemicals
Before shipping chemicals, you should first ensure that the materials are shipped in accordance with DOT regulations. In order to ship chemicals directly, your samples must meet the definition of small quantity for rail and highway transport (less than 30 ml or 30 g of material). Also, do NOT directly ship any chemicals that are classified as follows:
Class 1 - Explosive: According to 49 CFR 173.50 an explosive means any substance or article, which by chemical reaction within itself is able to explode regardless of whether it was intentionally designed to explode.
Class 2 - Gas
Class 3 - Flammable Liquid: a liquid having a flash point not more than 60 deg. C (140 deg. F ).
Class 4 - Flammable solid, spontaneously combustible, or dangerous when wet materials
Class 5 - Oxidizer or organic peroxide
Class 6.1 - Poisonous Material: a material known to afford a hazard health to humans. When reliable accurate data is not available, classify the formulation according to the most hazardous constituent of the mixture as if that constituent were present in the same concentration as the total concentration of all active constituents.
6.2 – Biological Material: contact Krista Murray for more information
Class 7 - Radioactive material
Class 8 - Corrosive Material: a liquid or solid that causes full thickness destruction of human skin at the site of contact within a specified period of time. A liquid, or a solid which may become a liquid during transportation, that has a severe corrosion rate on steel or aluminum.
Class 9 - Miscellaneous Hazardous Materials: a material which presents a hazard during transportation but which does not meet the definition of any other hazard class. Examples are anesthetic, noxious, or other similar property which could cause extreme annoyance or discomfort to a crew member.
If, in your best professional judgment, your sample meets any one of these criteria, contact EHS who will ship the sample(s) for you according to the DOT regulations.
If your sample does not meet any of the above criteria, then you can ship the compound. Fill out and include the attached package insert (link below) as a description of the non-hazardous materials being shipped.
Note: if you are shipping using dry ice, then you should have completed the EHS dry ice training module, and use the attached dry ice shipping checklist (link below) as you package the materials.
Finally, You should also evaluate whether you need to complete a Material Transfer Agreement (handled through Research and Graduate Studies, forms are available on their website at http://www.udel.edu/research/researchers/policies-forms.html), file one if necessary.