User Guide to Thresholds and Classification - Environmental ...

73User Guide for Thresholds and ClassificationsCurrent New Zealand criteriaThe Dangerous Goods Act 1974 defines division 4.3 as ‗substances which, in contact with water, emitflammable gases, being substances which, by interaction with water, are liable to become spontaneouslyflammable or to emit flammable gases in dangerous quantities‘. It also provides for three categories: A, B,and C. There is some general correlation between the Dangerous Goods Act categories A and B and UNPGs I and II (and HSNO Act categories A and B). This is not complete, however, and there areinconsistencies.The one substance listed in Dangerous Goods Act category C, lithium aluminium hydride ethereal, is actuallya UN PG I (HSNO Act category A) substance.Example substancesCategory A (equivalent to UN PG I) substances include:sodium;caesium; andlithium.Category B: (equivalent to UN PG II) substances include:calcium;barium; andaluminium carbideCategory C: (equivalent to UN PG III) substances include:calcium cyanamide;ferrosilicon; andzinc ashes.ReferencesUNCETDG 1998. Report of the Committee of Experts to the Fourteenth Session, Addendum 3,ST/SG/AC.10/C.3/28/Add.3. United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods,Geneva.United Nations 1999a. Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Manual of Tests andCriteria, 3rd revised edition. United Nations, New York and Geneva. (Note: Equivalent material can be foundin more recent versions of this document, for example, the 4th revised edition. Some material is available forpurchasing and downloading from http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/danger.htm.)United Nations 1999b. Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Model Regulations, 11threvised edition. United Nations, New York and Geneva. (Note: Equivalent material can be found in morerecent versions of this document., for example, the 15th revised edition. Some material is available forpurchasing and downloading from http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/danger.htm.)January 2012 EPA0109