Dangerous goods are articles or substances which are capable of posing a risk to health, safety, property or the environment.
If the goods you’re planning on sending have the potential to be flammable, toxic, corrosive, volatile, infectious or radioactive, they will be classified as dangerous goods.
Some items, although not combustible in themselves, can contribute to the combustion of other materials and, as such, are also classified as dangerous goods.
At PACK & SEND, we send a lot of personal items and belongings. We often encounter customers who are simply unaware or had never considered these items to be dangerous. In our experience the most common "everyday" items people try to send are:
- Perfume and aftershave (flammable)
- Nail polish or nail varnish (flammable)
- Aerosols e.g. hairsprays & deodorants (contain compressed gases)
- Electronic devices containing lithium batteries e.g. mobile phones, tablets, laptops (risk of fire if batteries get damaged)
Matters of dangerous goods cannot be taken lightly, no matter how harmless you may think the item is!
Check below to see if your goods fall within one of the 9 classes of dangerous goods:
- Explosives (e.g. ammunition/cartridges, fireworks, flares)
- Gases (e.g. aerosols, fire extinguishers, refrigerant gases, lighters)
- Flammable liquids (e.g. adhesives, paints, lacquers, varnishes, alcohols, thinners, perfumery products with flammable solvents)
- Flammable solids (e.g. alkali metals, metal powders, sodium batteries, firelighters, matches)
- Oxidising substances (e.g. hydrogen peroxide, ammonium nitrate fertilizers, chlorates, nitrates and nitrites)
- Toxic and infectious substances (e.g. medical/biomedical waste, biological cultures/samples/specimens, tear gas substances, dyes, acids, lead compounds, alkaloids, motor fuel anti-knock mixture)
- Radioactive materials (e.g. radioactive ores, medical isotopes, iridium radionuclides/isotopes)
- Corrosives (e.g. acids/acid solutions, car batteries, fuel cell cartridges, dyes, paints, fire extinguisher charges, rust removers or preventers)
- Miscellaneous dangerous goods (e.g. dry ice, expandable polymeric beads/polystyrene beads, ammonium nitrate fertilizers, blue asbestos/crocidolite, lithium ion batteries, lithium metal batteries, battery powered equipment, battery powered vehicles, fuel cell engines, internal combustion engines, vehicles, magnetized material, first aid kits, life-saving appliances, chemical kits)
A variety of regulatory bodies such as the International Air Transport Authority control and govern the transportation of dangerous goods, making freight compliance a particularly difficult task. General couriers and freight forwarders will not accept dangerous goods, however value added freight resellers will accept some types (such as lithium batteries).
If you would like more information about dangerous goods, contact your local PACK & SEND for further guidance.