One DANGEROUS Placard and a Scale That Is 89 Pounds Over
November, 6:40 a.m. on a Duluth loading dock. You are the driver of a 53-foot dry van taking a mixed load to Fargo. The shipment is 12 drums of a Table 2 Class 3 flammable liquid (760 lb gross), 4 drums of a Table 2 Class 8 corrosive liquid (300 lb gross), one pallet of a Table 2 Division 2.2 nonflammable gas (30 lb gross), and a single 5-lb steel cylinder of a Division 2.3 poison-inhalation-hazard gas that appears in Table 1 of the placard table. The shipper's shipping paper describes all four correctly. The loader has already hung one DANGEROUS placard on each side and the rear of the trailer and says it "covers everything and saves time." The receiver closes at 4:00 p.m., the drive is 250 miles, and freezing rain is forecast for the afternoon.
1. What placards must be on the trailer as loaded, and how does the 1,001-pound rule drive your answer?
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Two different rules apply, and they are decided separately.
Table 1 material: The Division 2.3 poison-inhalation-hazard cylinder is Table 1. Table 1 materials must be placarded at any quantity - 5 lb is enough. It needs POISON GAS.
Table 2 materials: The 1,001-lb exception is measured on the aggregate gross weight of all Table 2 material on the vehicle, not per hazard class: 760 + 300 + 30 = 1,090 lb. That is over 1,001 lb, so the exception is gone entirely, and every Table 2 hazard class present must then be placarded - FLAMMABLE, CORROSIVE and NON-FLAMMABLE GAS. The 30-lb pallet is the one most drivers miss: once the vehicle crosses 1,001 lb total, the small-quantity class still gets its placard.
Final placarding: POISON GAS, FLAMMABLE, CORROSIVE, NON-FLAMMABLE GAS on both sides and both ends. The single DANGEROUS placard is both unauthorized and insufficient.
2. Can the loader's DANGEROUS placard legally substitute for the others on this load? Explain the threshold you are comparing against.
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No. DANGEROUS is a real, legal placard, but it is a substitution option with its own gate.
It may replace the specific placards for Table 2 materials only when two or more Table 2 categories are present and the aggregate gross weight of all Table 2 material is 2,205 lb (1,000 kg) or more. This load is 1,090 lb, roughly half the threshold, and the vehicle is not entitled to it.
Second, DANGEROUS never covers Table 1 material. The Division 2.3 cylinder still requires POISON GAS even if the load had been heavy enough for DANGEROUS on the Table 2 portion. A single DANGEROUS placard is never a legal substitute for a Table 1 placard.
So the loader's shortcut fails twice: the weight is too low, and a Table 1 hazard is on board.
3. The receiver calls: the four corrosive drums have been cancelled and are pulled off the trailer at the same dock before you leave. Does the placarding change?
Read the worked answer
Yes - recalculate the Table 2 aggregate from what is actually on the vehicle.
760 (Class 3) + 30 (Division 2.2) = 790 lb. That is below 1,001 lb, so the Table 2 exception applies again and no Table 2 placards are required: the FLAMMABLE, CORROSIVE and NON-FLAMMABLE GAS placards come off.
The POISON GAS placard stays, because Table 1 material is placarded at any quantity and the cylinder is still loaded.
The judgment point is that the 1,001-lb test looks at what is loaded at one place at one time, and the count changes when freight comes off. Practically, you are the last person who can see the trailer: if the DANGEROUS placard is still hanging when you pull out, you are now running an improperly placarded vehicle in both directions - plus a placard for a corrosive that is not on board.