United Nations Dangerous Goods Number - Explained
What is the UN Dangerous Good Number?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 21st, 2024
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What is the United Nations Dangerous Goods (UNDG) Number?
United Nations Dangerous Goods (UNDG) Number is a four-digit number assigned by the United Nations committee of experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The function of this number is to find out dangerous or hazardous materials (goods) when they are being transported.
Dangerous goods such as explosives, Flammable Liquids to oxidizing solid or toxic liquids and other hazardous materials are subject to transportation requirements. The United Nations devices a means of identifying these goods using the UNDG numbers. While some hazardous materials are classified into different groups and assigned UN numbers, certain dangerous substances have their specific numbers, an example is acrylamide with the number UN 2074.
When is a UNDG Required?
The UN numbers that are assigned to dangerous goods are within the range of UN 0004 to UN 3534.
Chemicals or products with similar hazardous properties are assigned a common UN number, for instance, most flammable liquids have the number UN1993.
UN numbers are only placed on dangerous goods, harmless products do not carry UN numbers when they are being transported.
Based on the recommendations of the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods on how hazardous goods are transported, UN numbers came into force.
North America numbers (NA numbers) are similar to UN numbers. NA numbers are within the range of NA 9000 to NA 9279.
These numbers are assigned by the United States Department of Transportation (USDT). Both NA numbers and UN numbers have the same purposes, some goods may be without UN numbers but they carry NA numbers showing that they are hazardous.
However, there are some exceptions to how NA and UN numbers are assigned. For instance, while NA 2212 is all asbestos with UN 2212, NA 3334, is self-defense spray, non-pressurized while UN 3334 is aviation regulated liquid.