My mate deliveried 1 IBC 948kg, UN1170, Class 3, pack group II, he wasnt sure if it came under limited quantities or not.
Cheers. Simon.
Saaamon:
My mate deliveried 1 IBC 948kg, UN1170, Class 3, pack group II, he wasnt sure if it came under limited quantities or not.Cheers. Simon.
Hi Simon,
Firstly, the idea of Limited Quantities (LQs) is absolutely NOTHING to do with what you’re asking.
UN 1170 ETHANOL, 3, PGII has a Limited Quantity exemption for receptacles of no more than 1L size packaged in a cardboard box of no more than 30Kg. If that was complied with, then he could have carried as much as he liked.
The answer to your question (as asked) is that once the LQ rules aren’t being complied with (eg when it’s packaged in drums, jerricans or IBCs etc,) a vehicle load limit of 333L applies for that substance, because it’s in ADR Transport Category 2.
Your mate had more than 333L in the IBC, so YES he needed an ADR licence, orange plates, and all applicable documentation and equipment.
If your mate had carried UN 1170 ETHANOL, 3, PGIII in the IBC, then the vehicle load limit would have been 1,000L before ADR applied in full, because it would then have been in ADR Transport Category 3. He would NOT have needed an ADR licence in that case.
dieseldave:
Saaamon:
My mate deliveried 1 IBC 948kg, UN1170, Class 3, pack group II, he wasnt sure if it came under limited quantities or not.Cheers. Simon.
Hi Simon,
Firstly, the idea of Limited Quantities (LQs) is absolutely NOTHING to do with what you’re asking.
UN 1170 ETHANOL, 3, PGII has a Limited Quantity exemption for receptacles of no more than 1L size packaged in a cardboard box of no more than 30Kg. If that was complied with, then he could have carried as much as he liked.
The answer to your question (as asked) is that once the LQ rules aren’t being complied with (eg when it’s packaged in drums, jerricans or IBCs etc,) a vehicle load limit of 333L applies for that substance, because it’s in ADR Transport Category 2.
Your mate had more than 333L in the IBC, so YES he needed an ADR licence, orange plates, and all applicable documentation and equipment.
Thank you for your reply, im not really up on ADR and dont really understand what PGII and PGIII means, he said it was just an IBC full to the top of liquid.
What kind of trouble would he have got into if he didnt have all the adr tickets and equipment?
This also explains the limited quantity rule to me also… Thank you.
Saaamon:
Thank you for your reply, im not really up on ADR and dont really understand what PGII and PGIII means, he said it was just an IBC full to the top of liquid.What kind of trouble would he have got into if he didnt have all the adr tickets and equipment?
Hi Simon,
If your mate had been stop-checked, he would defo have had a Prohibition Notice issued, which prohibits further movement until an ADR qualified driver and all the required documentation and equipment was present and correct.
If your mate was told that ADR didn’t apply to the job, then he’s been conned by somebody, so he’s in the clear because that’s clearly not his fault.
However, it must be somebody’s fault, so both the sender of the goods and/or your mate’s boss might well have been subject to follow-up enquiries with an outcome depending on what was discovered. My guess is that the outcome would involve a trip to see the local Magistrates.
Just to give you an idea of what’s what… There are 9 UN Classes of dangerous goods.
Flammable Liquids are in UN Class 3.
The Classes ONLY serve to tell us the type/kind of danger, they should NOT be viewed as any kind of league table.
The nice folks at the UN also give us a worldwide four-digit number to identify substances and tell us what the proper names for the substances actually are. This serves to avoid the problems caused by complicated chemical names and documents written in foreign languages. There is also a required format for the way that the info is set out on the paperwork.
Most chemical type substances have Packing Groups, which serve to tell us the level/severity of danger.
There are 3 Packing Groups (shortened to PG) and these are ALWAYS written in Roman numerals to avoid confusion with UN Class numbers on documentation.
PG I = High Danger
PG II = Medium Danger
PG III = Low Danger
For example, PETROL is Class 3, PGII, so we now know that the stuff your mate carried has the same type of danger and also has the same level of danger as PETROL. (The ‘freebie’ limit for this level of danger is 333L.)
Your mate carried: UN 1170 ETHANOL, 3, PGII
(The word “ETHANOL” could have been written in any language, and we’d have still known what he was carrying.)
We’d also know (from the figure “3”) after the name of the stuff that it was a Flammable Liquid.
I mentioned earlier that there is also a PGIII version of ETHANOL, so now that we know that PGIII is a lower level of danger than PGII, (maybe this one is in a more diluted form) you now can see why ADR lets folks carry more of it as a ‘freebie’ before the Regs begin to bite.
The ‘freebie’ for PGI substances is only 20L, based on the high level of danger.
Things are actually quite a bit more complicated than I’ve written, so I hope you don’t mind that I’ve only given you the very barest bones necessary to answer your question.
Dieseldave you sure do know your stuff.
Ailsa:
This also explains the limited quantity rule to me also… Thank you.
Hi Ailsa,
I’d say that the best way to think of LQs is that they are the kinds of dangerous goods that members of the public can legally buy in a retail shop, such as B&Q or a garden centre.
The rules on sizes and how LQs are to be packaged are probably best thought of as a helpful way to let delivery drivers to get that kind of merchandise to the shops without ADR making a big fuss about it, and to allow the public to carry their shopping home in handy little packages.
mucker85:
Dieseldave you sure do know your stuff.
Thanks mate. I do my best. 
On this occasion, Saaamon provided excellent info, so it probably looked quite efficient because I didn’t need to ask him any questions. 
The level of your knowledge is mind amazing! Thanks for your time.