The Australian Dangerous Goods Code (ADGC or ADG7) is promulgated by The Advisory Committee on Transport of Dangerous Goods. The most current version is the seventh edition, released in 2008. Read in conjunction with accompanying national and State laws, the document creates a significant level of standardisation for the transportation of dangerous goods in Australia.
Contents
History
The Australian Transport Advisory Council recognised the Advisory Committee on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (ACTDG) in 1970 to expand and harmonise standardised national requirements for safe transportation of Dangerous Goods. The ADGC is currently adopted through individual legislation in each in State and Territory in Australia drawing on national model legislation. ADG7 complies with international standards of importation and exportation of dangerous goods (United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods).
The National Road Transport Commission
Australian Transport Ministers in the early 1990s decided to establish a further national process to develop more consistent and uniform consistent dangerous goods transport requirements across the country. This project was driven by the National Road Transport Commission (NRTC), a Commonwealth statutory authority formed as a result of intergovernmental agreements entered into by the Commonwealth, States and Territories. Ian Shepherd described the Commission and its processes in the following terms—
The New Legislative Framework
The work of the NRTC and the Commonwealth and States and Territories led to major reform of the regulation of the transport of dangerous goods in Australia. The new framework consisted of a national Act - the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Act 1995, national regulations - the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 1997 and a new version - the sixth edition - of the Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail.
The Act
The Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Act provided for—
The Regulations
The Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Regulations were arranged "...in a logical manner starting with preliminary matters and key concepts (such as bulk and packaged) and then following in the clear order of a transport operation from packaging, labelling and marking, through to transport procedures, documentation and emergencies. The duties of the various parties in a dangerous goods road transport transaction (consignor, prime contractor, loader, driver, etc) are set out in a clear, plain English style."
Sixth Edition of the Code
The sixth edition of the Code was described in the following terms—
Chain of responsibility
The 1997 legislative framework was notable for introducing the chain of responsibility concept into Australian transport law. The concept involves the design of policy and law which allocates responsibility under threat of criminal sanction to those persons who are in the best position to prevent and manage risks. Its introduction into the dangerous goods framework was described as follows—
Seventh Edition of the Code
The seventh edition of Australian Dangerous Goods Code was released in 2008. However, the sixth edition of Australian Dangerous Goods Code still applies as a substitute to the 7th edition for a period still not decided by governments. The structure of ADG6 which was established in 1998 differs from the current ADG7. Australia is establishing a separate dangerous goods regulation for road and rail transport.
Hazard classes
Each class is assigned a 4 digit UN number. It is not typically possible to determine the hazard class of a substance from its UN number. An exception to this are Class 1 substances whose UN number will always begin with a 0. See List of UN numbers.