Shipping Hazardous Materials
The U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) requires you be trained and certified before shipping hazardous materials. Even if someone else handles your shipment for you, you are responsible for packaging and labeling hazardous materials correctly, and providing the required documentation. Fines for non-compliance and potential legal action can occur if you are found to have willfully ignored hazardous materials shipping regulations.
Notes:
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Review the regulation changes for shipping hazardous materials by air in the frequently asked questions below.
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As of July 28, 2023, EH&S is no longer responsible for reporting UW shipments of “chemicals of interest” to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Warning labels are no longer required for shipping chemicals of interest.
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Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) provides online and classroom training courses for UW personnel who ship hazardous materials (refer to the Training section below).
We also ship radioactive material; contact EH&S's Radiation Safety team for more information.
International shipments may also be subject to import/export requirements. Information on these requirements and contact information can be found on the UW’s Export Controls website.
Refer to the List of Hazardous Substances and Reportable Quantities when shipping hazardous materials.
Training for shipping hazardous materials
EH&S offers a Shipping Hazardous Materials training class, which meets US DOT requirements. You must be re-certified every two years.
We also offer online classes for those who only ship certain dangerous goods such as dry ice, Biological Substances Category B or dangerous goods in excepted quantities.
These materials are referred to in our online shipping training classes:
How you can get help
Assistance with shipping hazardous materials
EH&S, in coordination with several other University units, offers assistance for trained UW students and personnel who need to ship hazardous materials.
For assistance in shipping radioactive materials, contact EH&S's Radiation Safety team at 206.543.6328 or radsaf@uw.edu.
For assistance with all other hazardous materials, contact the Hazardous Materials Shipping Coordinator at 206.685.2849 or email hazmat@uw.edu.
Services available
EH&S provides the following services:
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Training on shipping hazardous materials
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Hazardous materials shipping consultation and assistance, including hazardous materials classification, labels, assessment and regulatory interpretations
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Regulatory liaison between Federal agencies and the shippers, in the event of an audit or investigation
Frequently asked questions
No. You cannot transport hazardous materials in your personal vehicle for work-related activities. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the Hazardous Materials Shipping Coordinator at 206.685.2849 or email hazmat@uw.edu.
if your lab sends hazardous materials to other labs or locations, EH&S strongly recommends shipping the materials directly from a vendor to the location, rather than shipping dangerous goods from a UW lab. Using a vendor to ship hazardous materials to a lab or other researcher is more efficient and almost always less expensive because most carriers will add a dangerous goods surcharge to your regular shipping costs. Vendors have all of the shipping supplies on hand and tend to have a more streamlined process as they ship chemicals and products on a regular basis.
Federal Express has implemented many changes in the shipment of dangerous goods with them. The biggest change is a requirement that all Shipper's Declarations for Dangerous Goods (DDG) be prepared using one of the following methods:
- FedEx-approved vendor software applications
- Pre-approved shipper-proprietary software
- FedEx Express automated shipping solutions with dangerous goods edit checks
FedEx has also changed its rules for shipping lithium batteries. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact FedEx directly at the FedEx Dangerous Goods/Hazardous Materials Hotline at 1.800.GoFedEx or 1.800.463.3339 (say "dangerous goods" when prompted).
All UW locations use a contractor (currently CHEMTREC) to provide Emergency Response information. You must provide their 24-hour emergency contact: 1.800.424.9300.
You may be asked to include a contractor name and customer number. We have 26 different customer numbers for different UW locations. Email hazmat@uw.edu for the contract number that applies to your location. You must also include "University of Washington" in your shipper address, which is how CHEMTREC would identify you in the event of an emergency response.
In addition to a 24-hour emergency response number, US DOT requires you to provide additional emergency response information. To comply with this requirement, either provide the material safety data sheet (MSDS) [link to Safety Data Sheets page] for the material along with your shipping paper (Declaration for Dangerous Goods) or provide the proper Emergency Response Guidebook pages for your material based upon its UN number.
In either case, whether you use the MSDS or the Emergency Response Guidebook pages, the following information must be present:
- Basic description and technical name of the hazardous material
- Immediate hazards to health
- Risks of fire or explosion
- Immediate precautions to be taken in the event of an accident or incident
- Immediate methods for handling fires
- Initial methods for handling spills or leaks in the absence of fire
- Preliminary first aid measures
If you use the Emergency Response Guidebook pages to meet the above requirements, then you need to indicate the "basic description and technical name of the hazardous material" (its proper shipping name and UN number) found on the guidebook pages.
Definitions
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) defines "dangerous goods" as
Articles or substances which are capable of posing a hazard to health, safety, property or the environment and which are shown in the list of dangerous goods in these Regulations or which are classified according to the Regulations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation defines "hazardous materials" as
A substance or material that the Secretary of Transportation has determined is capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported in commerce, and has designated as hazardous under section 5103 of the Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5103). The term includes hazardous substances, hazardous waste, marine pollutants, elevated temperature materials, materials designated as hazardous in the Hazardous Materials Table (See 49 CFR172.101), and materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and divisions in part 173 of the subchapter.
