Placards advise the emergency services, other vehicles on the road and the general public that dangerous goods are being transported, and are one of the controls, including safety equipment, stowage and segregation requirements, that apply when placard loads are being transported.
The term ‘placard load’ is used in dangerous goods transport legislation and the Australian Dangerous Goods Code (ADG Code).
Placard load amounts for smaller receptacles
These provisions replace the previous 'packaged' dangerous goods transport provisions.
For loads consisting only of receptacles each with a capacity 500 litres or less and containing 500 kilograms or less of dangerous goods, the load is a placard load if it contains
- any category A, division 6.2 dangerous goods (infectious substances)
- 10 litres/kilograms or more, of category B, division 6.2 dangerous goods (infectious substances)
- any division 2.1 (flammable gases except aerosols), division 2.3 (toxic gases) or packing group I substances in the load and the total quantity of all dangerous goods is 250 litres/kilograms or more
- in the case of limited quantities and/or domestic consumer commodities, a total of 2,000 litres/kilograms of dangerous goods or more
- where none of the above apply, a total of 1,000 litres/kilograms of dangerous goods or more
Placard load amounts for larger receptacles
These provisions replace the previous ‘bulk’ dangerous goods transport provisions.
A load is a placard load if it
- contains any amount of dangerous goods transported in a receptacle of more than 500 litres capacity, or
- contains more than 500 kilograms of dangerous goods in any receptacle
Exceptions
Fumigated units that do not contain other dangerous goods are not considered to be placard loads.