Every company needs to use shipping at some point to send and receive goods. This is true even for companies that need to ship dangerous goods. Companies in the health industry, environmental industry, and cleaning industry all need to send and receive substances that could be dangerous to people’s health if they are exposed to it improperly. The shipping and receiving of dangerous goods are not something that everyone knows a lot about. This is even true considering the fact that you probably drive by some kind of vehicle carrying one of these kinds of substances every day.

If you are starting a company or working for a company that deals with the packing, shipping, or receiving of materials that could have a negative health effect on people you want to know everything that you can about the process. Dangerous goods packaging is not a game and the process is heavily regulated by the United States government. Here are 3 things that you may not have known before about dangerous goods (but you do now).

1. There are a lot of them – There are many more items that are classified as dangerous goods by the government than you may think. This includes even everyday items that people use on a regular basis like batteries and thermometers. Anything that is slightly flammable, like charcoal, is considered a dangerous chemical. Many people think that dangerous goods are just chemicals and solutions that can cause harm or even death to a person if they are exposed to them. There are much more than that.

2. They are ubiquitous – There are a lot more shipments of these types of goods than you may realize. In fact, there are over 1 million of these types of goods shipped every day on the highways and railways of the United States. Long story short, these types of shipments are a lot more prevalent than you may think.

3. Bad training is a problem – Over half of the instances of people having regulatory issues like being fined or penalized for their shipping practices comes from the fact that they are undertrained. Those that are not educated on how to properly ship these types of goods are sure to make mistakes at some point that will their company money and may cost them their job. It is important for companies that ship these goods to make sure that their employees understand exactly how to ship them correctly.