Hazardous Materials Class Definitions*
Compressed Gas: Any material that is normally a gas which is placed under pressure or chilled and contained in a cylinder.
Corrosive Materials: Materials that can cause severe burns to skin and other human tissues such as the eye, lung and can attack clothes and other materials including metal.
Dangerously Reactive Materials:
- if it can react very strongly and quickly (called "vigorously") with water to make a toxic gas;
- if it will react with itself when it gets shocked (bumped or dropped) or if the temperature or pressure increases;
- if it can vigorously join to itself (polymerization), break down (decomposition) or lose extra water such that it is a more dense material (condensation).
- if a material is dangerously reactive, it will most likely be described as "unstable".
Flammable and Combustible Material:
- Flammable means that the material will burn or catch on fire easily at normal temperatures (below 37.8oC).
- Combustible materials must usually be heated before they will catch on fire at room temperature (between 37.8 and 93.3oC).
- This class includes gases, liquids and solids
Oxidizing Material: Materials that can cause other materials to burn by supplying oxygen. Oxidizers do not burn themselves but they will either help the fire by providing more oxygen or they may cause materials that normally do not burn to suddenly catch fire.
Radioactive: Substances with a specific activity greater than 70 kBq/kg (Section 2.37 Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulation).
Toxic and Biohazardous Material: Materials which can cause harm to your body. They are divided into three major divisions.
- Division 1: Materials Causing Immediate and Serious Toxic Effects: These are materials that are very poisonous and immediately dangerous to life and health. Serious health effects such as burns, loss of consciousness, coma or death within just minutes or hours after exposure are grouped in this category (acute effects)
- Division 2: Materials Causing Other Toxic Effects: These materials are poisonous as well. Their effects are not always quick, or if the effects are immediate but they are only temporary. The materials that do not have immediate effects, however, may still have very serious consequences such as cancer, allergies, reproductive problems or harm to the baby, changes to your genes, or irritation / sensitization which have resulted from small exposures over a long period of time (chronic effects).
- Division 3: Biohazardous and Infectious Material: These materials are organisms or the toxins they produce that can cause diseases in people or animals. Included in this division are bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
Other hazards: Can include any other hazard not listed.
Please contact CLSI HSE Department for more information.
*Controlled Products Regulations
Last modified: 2012-02-02 16:02:26