How To

SEGREGATE

Different
Classes of
DANGEROUS
GOODS
CONTENTS

Part 1.
Mixed Storage of Dangerous Goods

Part 2.
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Part 3.
The Dangerous Goods Segregation Chart

Part 4.
How to Read the Dangerous Goods
Segregation Chart

Part 5.
Best Practices for Safe and Effective Storage of
Mixed of Dangerous Goods

Part 6.
Conclusion and additional Resource

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PART 1
Mixed Storage of Dangerous Goods

Dangerous goods are substances or articles that pose risk to people,

property or the environment due to their chemical and physical
properties. Each substance has unique physical and chemical properties,
therefore when two or more different chemicals are stored together in
the same store they can mix and in some cases, cause violent reactions.
These reactions can emit severe heat that can cause fires, pungent
gasses that can induce suffocation and some can even cause explosions.
With every reaction, foreign by-products are formed which can harm
people, property and pollute the environment.

However, having said there are some chemicals and substances that
have very similar chemical and physical properties, and do not react.
These substances can sometimes be stored together.

You now may feel very confused, and you may want to know how to
determine which chemicals you can store together, and which ones you
can’t? Be rest assured, as the result of some hard work done by a few
experts, they have made it very easy for us to determine how to safely
store each chemical to eliminate these dangerous reactions. The way
that these experts have made this segregation process easy is that they
have classified all chemicals and substances that pose risk to people,
property or the environment as “Dangerous Goods”. They then went one
step further, and classified all “Dangerous Goods” into nine separate
classes based on the danger or risk that these present. Within each
class, they also created Sub-Divisions to further classify the differing
nature of the dangerous goods within each class. The nine Classes of
Dangerous Goods are listed on the next part.

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 1 – Explosives

Explosives are defined by Dangerous Goods Standards as substances or

materials that have the ability to rapidly conflagrate or detonate as a
result of a chemical reaction

Sub-divisions

Division 1.1: - Substances and articles which have a mass explosion

hazard.

Division 1.2: - Substances and articles which have a projectile hazard,

but not a mass explosion hazard.

Division 1.3: - Substances and articles which have a fire hazard and a
minor blast hazard or a minor projectile hazard or both.

Division 1.4 – Substances and articles that present no signification

hazard; only a small hazard in the event of ignition or initiation during
transport with any affects largely confined to the package.

Division 1.5 – Very intensive substances which have a mass explosion

hazard.

Division 1.5 – Extremely insensitive articles which do not have a mass

explosion hazard.

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 2 – Gasses

Gasses are defined by Dangerous Goods Standards as

substances which have a vapour pressure of 300 kPa or
greater at 50 0C or which are completely gaseous at 20
0C at standard atmospheric pressure.

Sub-Divisions:

Division 2.1: Flammable Liquids.

Division 2.2: Non-flammable, Non-toxic gas.

Division 2.3: Toxic Gas.

Class 3 – Flammable Liquids

Flammable liquids are defined by Dangerous Goods

Standards as Liquids, or mixtures of liquids, or liquids
containing solids in solution or suspension which give off
a flammable vapour at temperatures of not more than
60.5 0C closed cup test, or not more than 65.6 OC open
cup test, normally referred to as the flash point.

Sub-Divisions

There are no sub divisions within class 3 flammable

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 4 – Flammable solids; substances liable to

spontaneous combustion; substances that, in contact with
water, emit flammable gases.

Flammable solids are defined by Dangerous Goods

regulations as substances which under certain transport
and storage conditions are readily combustible or may
cause or contribute to fire through friction, self-reactive
substances that are liable to undergo strong exothermic
reaction or solid desensitized explosives that may explode
if not sufficiently diluted. Flammable solids also include
Pyrophoric substances which are substances that will
ignite within 5 minutes of being exposed to air and
self-heating substances which are substances that are
liable to self-heating (these will only ignite when stored in
large amounts). Flammable solids also include substances
that will emit flammable gases when brought into contact
with water. These flammable gases mix with the air to
form explosive gases that will ignite from a small ignition
source or from unprotected light globes.

Sub-divisions

Division 4.1 Flammable Solids.

Division 4.2 Substances liable to spontaneous combustion.

Division 4.3 Substances which, in contact with water, emit

flammable gases.

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 5 – Oxidising Substances; Organic Peroxides

Oxidising agents are defined by Australian standards as

substances which may cause or contribute to
combustion by providing oxygen as a result of
undergoing a redox chemical reaction. Organic peroxides
are defined as organic substances that contain the
bivalent -O-O- structure and may be considered
derivatives of hydrogen peroxide, where one or both of
the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by organic
radicals.”

Sub-Divisions
Division 5.1 Oxidising Agents.
Division 5.2 Organic Peroxides.

Class 6 - Toxic Substances; Infection substances

Toxic substances are those substances which have the

ability to either cause death, serious injury or harm to
human health if swallowed, inhaled or by skin contact.
Infections substances are those that are known or likely
to contain pathogens. Pathogens are micro-organisms
such as parasites, bacteria, fungi, viruses and rickettsia
which can cause disease in humans and animals.

Sub-Divisions:
Division 6.1 Toxic Substances.
Division 6.2 Infections substances.

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 7 - Radioactive Material

Radioactivity material is defined by Dangerous Goods

Standards as any material containing radionuclides which
have an activity concentration and total activity which
exceeds certain predetermined values set out in sections
2.7.2.2.1 to 2.7.2.2.6 of the ADG Code. A radio nucleotide
is an atom with an unstable nucleus which emits excess
energy as gamma rays or as alpha particles or beta
particles by undergoing radioactive decay to achieve a
more stable state.

Sub-Divisions

There are no subdivisions for this class.

Class 8 – Corrosives

Corrosive substances are those that corrode, disintegrate

and destroy other material such as living tissue, metal or
stone by chemical action.

Sub-Divisions

There are not sub-divisions for class 8 corrosives.

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PART2
The 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods

Class 9 – Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods

Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods are substances that meet the

classification of a dangerous good eg. A solid, liquid or gas that can
harm people other living organisms, property or the environment, but
do not fall under the other 8 categories of dangerous goods.

Sub-Divisions

There are no Sub-Divisions for Class 9 Dangerous Goods.

Therefore, having classifying all dangerous goods into 9 different

categories, it now makes it much more easily to segregate different
substances in a way that will have minimal risk to the surroundings, by
following the dangerous goods segregation chart. The dangerous goods
segregation chart is shown below.

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PART 3
The Dangerous Goods Segregation

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PART3
The Dangerous Goods Segregation Chart

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PART4
How to read the Dangerous Goods
Segregation Chart.

The dangerous goods segregation chart, lists the nine different

classes/sub-Divisions of Dangerous Goods along the top and down the
side of the chart to form a matrix. The way that you read this
dangerous goods segregation chart is:

1. Identify Dangerous Goods classification for the 2 substances you

are seeking to store. (this can be done by consulting the SDS sheet
or by identifying the dangerous goods signage on the packaging of
the substance)

2. Identify the column (at the top of the chart) that represents the
class of the first substances that you are seeking to store.

3. Locate the row (on the left side of the table) that represents the
class of the second substance that you are seeking to store.

4. Put one finger at the start of the column that represents the class
of first substance you are seeking to store.

5. Put another finger at the start of the row that represents the class
of the second substance you are seeking to store.

6. Find where the column and the row bisect and identify the symbol
on the bisecting square.

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PART4
How to read the Dangerous Goods
Segregation Chart.

7. Go to the legend that is below the chart to identify the specification

for that symbol.

8. The symbol will specify how those two types of dangerous goods
have to be segregated to be safe and compliant to
Australian Standards

If you have more than 2 types of Dangerous Goods in your Dangerous

goods store, ensure that you check the compatibility of each type of
dangerous good against the other to ensure that you achieve the correct
segregation for all of the dangerous goods.

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PART5
Best Practices for Safe and Effective Storage
of Mixed Classes of Dangerous Goods.

To achieve the greatest level of efficiency and the lowest level of risk
when storing a number of different classes of dangerous goods in the
same store, there are a number of Must Do’s.
These critical Must Do’s include:

>> Ensuring that you identify the Dangerous goods class for each
substances that you are storing.
>> Identify the correct segregation for each class of Dangerous Goods
by using the Segregation Chart and ensuring that each of these
dangerous goods in the chemical store are segregated accordingly.
>> Ensuring that the SDS (Safety Data Sheets) for all of the
substances and chemicals that are in the Store, are filed in a water
tight wall mounted Document Storage Holder, that is easily
accessible at all times.
>> Ensuring that all packages of the same substances are kept in one
section of the store, and kept in their original packaging. The
original packaging is always compatible with the substance within.
>> The SDS file is always updated when new chemicals are brought
into the store.
>> Any chemicals or substances with broken packages are removed
from the store.
>> Any old or left over chemicals that will not be used again are
disposed of in a safe and compliant manner.

By practicing these Must Do’s on a day to day basis, your store will
continue to be maintained in a safe and efficient manner, which
ultimately reduces risk to the surrounding people, property and
Environment.

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PART5
Conclusion and Additional resources.

To ensure that your Dangerous goods store poses the lease amount of
risk to people, property and the environment, it is very important that
you become familiar with the hazardous properties of each class of
Dangerous Goods, learn how to read and apply the Dangerous Goods
Segregation chart and you continually practice the important
MUST DO’s.

If you found this book helpful and you would like other resources,
please don’t hesitate to subscribe to the STOREMATA Dangerous Goods
Storage Blog.

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