Flammable liquids, lithium batteries and dry ice often ship by air. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) classifies these three goods as dangerous materials because they pose a high risk to humans and the environment. Their high level of risk means your employees must practice proper handling and shipping to prevent incidents.
Why Are Lithium Batteries, Flammable Liquids and Dry Ice Dangerous?
IATA defines hazardous materials as articles that put the safety and health of people and the environment at risk. Flammable liquids generate vapors that ignite easily when they come into contact with a flame. On the other hand, dry ice produces considerable carbon dioxide as it sublimates. The container holding it should allow for the release of carbon dioxide to avoid explosion. Lithium power sources contain flammable electrolytes, which can cause fire when short circuits occur.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) categorizes flammable liquids as Class 3 harmful goods and dry ice and lithium power units as Class 9 high-risk items.
Preparing Harmful Articles for Shipment
Here are the steps you should take to prepare flammable liquids, dry ice and lithium batteries for air shipping:
1. Identify Products With High-Risk Merchandise
Determine which products contain harmful articles and purchase quality packaging for them. Good packaging is tough enough to tolerate transportation.
2. Declare Dangerous Goods
Fill out an air waybill and the shipper’s declaration for harmful items. The latter document should contain the following details:
- Shipper’s name
- Airport departure
- Packing instructions
- Nature of harmful goods
- Shipment type
- Date
- Signature
3. Add Labels
Add durable and visible labels on the outside of the packaging. These labels include pictogram stickers identifying high-risk articles based on their DOT-assigned class. Also, directly print on the package details like the United Nations (UN) number, the identity of the dangerous item and your organization’s name. Alternatively, print this information on adhesive and attach it to the outside of the package.
Safety Tips
To ensure the safe handling and shipping of high-risk stock, your organization should implement the following practices:
- Train your crew regularly: Enroll your employees in DOT and IATA Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) courses to give them the skills to pack, load, screen and ship harmful articles safely. Ensure they are completing training refreshes every few years.
- Implement IATA’s harmful articles rules: Using IATA’s regulations as a guideline, create company policies to guide your staff in handling harmful materials.
- Track regulations: You and your personnel should keep track of regulations since regulators update them annually.
Enroll in HAZMAT Shipping Courses
To comply with regulations, you must enroll your staff in HAZMAT education. Hazmat School offers several comprehensive lessons to give your employees the skills to prepare dangerous materials for air shipping. We’ll issue certificates upon the completion of our online programs.
Our classes include shipping lithium batteries by air, IATA and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) dangerous goods online training, and DOT and IATA HAZMAT shipping training. These programs meet regulatory requirements 100%.
Enroll your team in your chosen course and get the needed training today.
Manages Hazmat School’s E-Learning courses and blog. Kirstie has extensive experience in the online training and education industry. Kirstie has worked with courses that offer a variety of safety and environmental certifications that satisfy OSHA, EPA and DOT requirements.
