subject: Hazardous materials management – Handle them with care [print this page] Hazardous materials management Handle them with care
The various bio-products that were in invented and are still being invented regularly are of great help for the mankind. For example, fertilizers and insecticides help the crops to grow in all conditions even in unsuitable ones too. However, the hazardous part is that the usage of all these chemicals has taken a harmful toll on the environment too. HAZMAT is the term that is used for describing these materials. To combat the negative effects of these hazardous materials on the environment, the governing bodies of almost all the countries are coming up with different hazardous materials management programs.
In various hazardous materials management program, the harmful materials are categorized into nine different categories. They are liquid inflammables, radio actives, oxidizers, gases, explosives, explosives, solid inflammables, poisons, corrosive, combustibles, dangerous and miscellaneous. Bio-waste also comes under the HAZMAT materials. These also include scabs that comes from polio shots, used up needles, blood waste etc. All the countries around the world transport these chemicals. Even a small mistake might lead to an accident which may result in environmental threats.
In order to identify these hazardous materials a color code and a number code has been added for indication purpose. For instance, the red color is for flame hazards, blue is for health, the color white is for special types of hazards.
The hazardous materials management program also assigns number to hazardous materials so as to identify the degree of hazard from to 4, whereby 0 being the lowest degree and 4 being the highest. To raise awareness amongst the masses, there are safety measures seminar that are being held all around the word. In such seminars, the people who deal with these hazardous materials are advised and guided about the kind of garments that they should ideally wear, how to handle these kind of materials etc. The protective garments usually include aprons, jumpsuits, coveralls, respiratory gloves, boots and face shields.
In order to look after the safety of the individuals who handle such harmful chemicals, the hazardous materials management program comes along with the training sessions too. There are three kinds of training that are provided. They are IATA, 49 CFR and IMDG. The IATA training is for the international shipments through air. The IATA is the International Air Transport Association and provides the guidelines for the shipment of hazardous materials by air. The 49 CFR training is for the domestic truck, barge, ocean, air and rail shipments. And the IMDG training is for the international shipment through ocean. The IMDG stands for International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code which details the shipping requirements of hazardous materials in the ocean. A HAZMAT professional gives certain information to the shippers about the packing, marking, labeling and the other procedures that are involved with the shipping of these hazardous materials.
Amongst all the training programs, the IMDG is the most important one. The training session is for two or three days and includes all the IMDG packaging, labeling and marketing. With the help of the HAZMAT professionals, the shippers need to fill out the IMO HAZMAT declaration. The IATA training is conducted for three days to make the shippers aware of the IATA regulations regarding the transportation of these hazardous materials by air. The 49 CFR specifies the training for rail, barge, truck etc mode of transportation in the hazardous materials management
