Whenever you want to ship products, you must assess whether the dangerous goods criteria are fulfilled for these products.
Dangerous Goods are basically grouped into nine classes:
- Class 1: Explosives;
- Class 2: Gases;
- Class 3: Flammable liquids;
- Class 4: Flammable solids; substances liable to spontaneous combustion; substances that, in contact with water, emit flammable gases;
- Class 5: Oxidising substances and organic peroxides;
- Class 6: Toxic and infectious substances;
- Class 7: Radioactive Material;
- Class 8: Corrosive Substances;
- Class 9: Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles, including environmentally hazardous substances.
Review the list, which includes the full names of the regulations and their respective applicability: SAP Content for Dangerous Goods Management.
When products are possibly dangerous goods, you must properly identify the products by processing a dangerous goods classification according to applicable dangerous goods regulations.
For domestic transport by road, rail, or inland waterways, the following national or multinational regulations apply:
- Specific regulations exist for all these modes of transport. An example is the Regulations on Measures for the Safety Administration of Road Transport of Dangerous Goods (JT/T 617.3) of the People's Republic of China, which is valid for road transport.
- Multiple national regulations cover both road and rail transport, such as ADG in Australia, ANTT in Brazil, or SANS 10228 in South Africa.
- Other regulations are more specific regarding modes of transport, differentiating cargo and passenger, for example, Canadian TDG or CFR 49 in the US.
- There are multinational regulations or regulations covering multiple nations and regions, such as ADR for road, RID for rail, and ADN for inland waterways.
Another point of origin for regulations is the United Nations. Examples include the classification of hazardous substances and regulations for the safe transportation of dangerous goods.
The UN regulations for the safe transport of dangerous goods are replicated in:
- International regulations for sea and air transport;
- National or multi-national regulations for domestic transport by road, rail, or inland waterways.
Frequently, a company must comply with 15-20 dangerous goods regulations, depending on the business.
United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Model Regulations
| Part 1: | General Provisions, definitions, training, and security |
| Part 2: | Classification |
| Part 3: | Dangerous Goods List, special provisions and exceptions |
| Part 4: | Packing and tank provisions |
| Part 5: | Consignment procedures |
| Part 6: | Requirements for the construction and testing of packaging |
| Part 7: | Provisions concerning transport procedures |
The structure of the United Nations recommendation on the (Safe) Transport of Dangerous Goods provides an overview of regulations governing the transportation of dangerous goods.
Part 2 provides classification criteria for each dangerous goods class or division, enabling the identification and classification of products as dangerous goods.
Part 3 of the Transport of Dangerous Goods list is the central part for identifying a dangerous good. Numerous chemicals are listed by name. If your product is not listed by name, there are generic entries following the main risks. Some examples are the UN 1992 Flammable Liquid, Toxic, or product-related entries, such as UN 1133 Adhesives or UN 1263 Paint.
When you have identified the appropriate line in the dangerous goods list that matches your product, you will receive additional information, most importantly, packaging or tank instructions. These instructions, detailed in Part 4, provide information on how to pack your product, including the maximum allowed quantities and which tanks are permitted as enclosures.
Besides packaging or tank provisions, Part 3 outlines applicable special provisions that you need to check. Special provisions may either define additional details you must take into account or specify conditions releasing you from specific provisions.
Part 5 contains consignment procedures that address, for example, marking and labelling packages, tanks, or vehicles, as well as the respective cargo transportation units (CTUs), and the documentation required when shipping dangerous goods.
An example of provisions concerning transport procedures in Part 7 is the segregation rule applicable when placing different dangerous goods into cargo transportation units. This is to avoid risks in case the different dangerous goods mix and how they may react.
The solution area, Dangerous Goods Management in SAP S/4HANA for product compliance, deals with the areas covered by dangerous goods regulations:
- Classification of dangerous goods products, which results in transport permissibility according to the regulations, meaning affected countries/regions and modes of transport.
- Products in Packing Instructions - Partially packaged dangerous goods and unpackaged dangerous goods that do not have a regulation-compliant outer package are not allowed to be transported as they do not comply with the packaging requirement in dangerous good regulations. These dangerous goods need to be included in a packing instruction to ensure their compliance with dangerous goods regulations. This packing instruction comes from the logistical process and is attached to newly created, relevant, partially packaged or unpackaged products.
- Consignment procedures such as documentation, marking and labelling, and segregation provisions.
Watch the video to discover the three major processes applicable to the Dangerous Goods Management.
Key Takeaways
There are three major processes applicable to Dangerous Goods:
- Administration of the regulatory foundation.
- Process dangerous goods assessments.
- Consuming / Processing Dangerous Goods (data) in the value chain/supply chain.
Administering the dangerous goods regulatory framework and assessing dangerous goods classifications are tasks that the Dangerous Goods Specialist is responsible for completing.
Processing dangerous goods in the value chain
Processing of dangerous goods data in the value chain is realized by functionalities integrated into the value chain. These integrated functionalities do not require any activities by the business users involved. If the integrated dangerous goods checks detect an issue, such as a missing or unreleased dangerous goods assessment, the system automatically creates a request for logistics to be processed by the Product Stewardship Specialist or the Dangerous Goods Specialist, as applicable in the given case. As soon as the issue is resolved, the checks that detected the issue are reprocessed automatically.
When it comes to processing dangerous goods in the value chain and the related processes, numerous business roles are affected.
It begins with the creation of product master data and the indication that the product is compliance relevant. The Master Data Specialist - Product Master accomplishes this step, and product compliance processing is initiated.
The Product Stewardship Specialist assigns the product to a compliance view and assigns necessary compliance purposes to prepare compliance requirements for assessment. Dangerous goods compliance requirements represent the applicable dangerous goods regulations.
The Dangerous Goods Specialist focuses on identifying and classifying dangerous goods in accordance with relevant regulations.
With completion of these initial steps, products are ready for integrated dangerous goods processing along supply chain processes:
A purchasing specialist procures products, such as raw materials, which must be fetched, for example, from the harbour and transported to the plant, and thus engages a carrier.
An internal sales representative creating a sales order must ensure, the sold product can be transported to the customer.
The shipping specialist processing and outbound delivery must ensure that the dangerous goods shipped are properly marked and labelled and must provide appropriate dangerous goods documents.
The transport planner can only plan transports utilizing permitted modes of transport, which are derived from the dangerous goods classifications.
Automatically created requests from logistics integrate product compliance and thereby dangerous goods with the value chain. Such requests can be created from relevant changes on the product master, which is kind of the initial case:
- When a new compliance-relevant product is created or an existing product is identified as compliance-relevant for the first time, initial product compliance activities, such as assigning a compliance view and mapping compliance purposes, must be processed.
- When specific data for a compliance-relevant product is changed, for example, a new distribution chain or plant is added. This extension of the product master also requires extended product compliance and dangerous goods assessments.
On the other hand, requests are created in case issues are detected when processing dangerous goods products in supply chain processes:
- Integrated dangerous goods checks cannot determine an applicable dangerous goods regulation for a specific combination of country/region and mode of transport, as given by the supply chain business transaction.
- Compliance data is missing, which means that a released dangerous goods assessment is not available for the required regulation.
Let's Summarize What You've Learned
Dangerous goods are classified into nine classes and are regulated by international, national, and multinational regulations.
The United Nations provides model regulations that form the basis for most dangerous goods transport requirements.
Dangerous goods management involves administering regulations, assessing product classifications, and processing compliance data within the supply chain.
Roles such as Dangerous Goods Specialists and Product Stewardship Specialists ensure compliance and accurate documentation during transport and logistics.