Placarding, marking, and labeling
Three different communications
A label is the roughly 100 mm (4-inch) diamond on a package. A marking is text or a symbol on the package - proper shipping name and ID number, orientation arrows, RQ. A placard is the 250 mm (about 10-inch) diamond on the vehicle, and it is the driver's warning to the public and to responders.
Table 1 versus Table 2
Placarding is driven by the placard table in 49 CFR 172.504.
- Table 1 - placard for any quantity: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 4.3, 5.2, 6.1 PG I, and Class 7 packages bearing Yellow-II or Yellow-III labels.
- Table 2 - placard when the aggregate gross weight of all Table 2 material reaches 1,001 lb: 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.2, 3, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1 PG II and III, 8, and 9. At 1,001 lb or more covering two or more Table 2 categories, the single DANGEROUS placard may replace the individual placards.
Where they go
Cargo tanks and other bulk packages carry placards on both sides, the front, and the rear, with the ID number on orange panels on both sides and the rear. Other vehicles carry them on both sides and both ends. Placards stay on an empty tank that has not been purged - residue is still regulated.
Worked example
A truck carries 900 lb of a Class 8 corrosive, PG III. No placard - it is under 1,001 lb and Class 8 is Table 2. Load 1,200 lb instead and CORROSIVE is mandatory. Load 50 lb of Division 2.1 and it is placarded immediately, because 2.1 is Table 1.
Traps that cost marks
Applying the 1,001-lb rule to Table 1 materials; stripping placards from an unwashed tank; omitting the ID number on a bulk tank; confusing a package label with a vehicle placard.