Unless an exception to the Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR) is available, every shipment of a hazardous material will require the use of each of the four hazard communication methods of the US DOT, they are:

• Shipping papers
• Placards
• HazMat labels
• Markings

Typically a placard is affixed to all four sides of a transport vehicle, such as a truck on the highway or a rail car.  There are some situations, however, where a placard is required to be affixed to all four sides of a bulk packaging and there are some situations where the use of a placard or a HazMat label is an option on two sides of a bulk packaging.  You can read more about the option to placard or label bulk packagings here:  Use of Placards for HazMat Shipments in Bulk Packagings.

The purpose of this article is to answer a question asked at one of my Public Training Seminars:  “Is it OK to use a placard on a non-bulk packaging of a hazardous material in place of the HazMat label?” (more…)