Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc. (SCE) provides impartial consulting services and guidance to the industry in process safety.

UN Classification of Hazardous Materials

The U.S. Department of Transportation has incorporated the UN Classification system for hazardous materials. Hazardous materials for transportation are classed as follows:

The US military, U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the United Nations (UN) and others have participated in the development of a common classification system consisting of nine (9) classes and a varying number of divisions within those classes. The nine classes with their divisions, as used by the U.S. DOT are:

Class Number	Division	Name of Class or Division	Class Number	Division	Name of Class or Division
None	-	Forbidden Materials	4	4.1	Flammable solid
None	-	Forbidden Explosives	4	4.2	Spontaneously combustible material
1	1.1.	Explosives (with a mass explosion hazard)	4	4.3	Dangerous when wet material
1	1.2	Explosives (with a projection hazard)	5	5.1	Oxidizer
1	1.3	Explosives (with predominately a fire hazard)	5	5.2	Organic peroxide
1	1.4	Explosives (with no significant blast hazard)	6	6.1	Poisonous materials
1	1.5	Very insensitive explosives; blasting agents	6	6.2	Infectious substance (Etiologic agent)
1	1.6	Extremely insensitive detonating substances	7	-	Radioactive material
2	2.1	Flammable gas	8	-	Corrosive material
2	2.2	Non-flammable compressed gas	9	-	Miscellaneous hazardous material
2	2.3	Poisonous gas	None	-	Other regulated material: ORM-D
3	-	Flammable and combustible liquid

Those shipping hazardous materials have a legal obligation to know the hazards of the material and to verify the proper shipping classification. Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc. (SCE) has the skills and credentials to assist you in all your test and analysis needs for hazardous or energetic materials or processes.

For more information regarding process hazards analysis, system safety, material characterization, DOT and other regulatory compliance, and any associated testing, please contact us at 847-925-8100 or email us at sceinc@sceinc.com.

Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Chilworth | A DEKRA Company