Rightly so, the U.N. Committee of Experts came together to produce The Orange Book – a list of recommendations for dangerous goods packaging. But what goods are considered dangerous? This isn’t the immediately obvious answer since it includes anything that poses not only a risk to human health and safety, but also to the environment or even property when in transit. These substances require specific precautions to be taken with UN certified packaging. The regulations are far reaching but are broken down by how the dangerous goods are to be transported, with specific regulations existing for the transport of goods by road, air and sea. Each of these is updated every year, so it is important to always be in the know regarding packaging and precautions. If a company was not to follow these guidelines they would be liable in the event of an accident and receive heavy fines and penalties for even trying to ship without the proper packaging and certifications in place.
When buying packaging it is always important to have the Certificate of Packaging Performance provided along with the packaging. It is of course vital that the correct package is selected, so it can really pay to talk to an expert who knows the law and regulations. Properly sealing the goods is also important and may require further guidance. This would hopefully be available from the company the packaging is bought from, but if not, then finding an alternate source would be advised.
