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436 

49 CFR Ch. I (10–1–23 Edition) 

§ 172.502 

(5) Combustible liquids in non-bulk 

packagings. 

[Amdt. 172–123, 55 FR 52599, Dec. 21, 1990, as 
amended by Amdt. 172–149, 61 FR 27173, May 
30, 1996; 74 FR 2253, Jan. 14, 2009; 76 FR 3367, 
Jan. 19, 2011; 87 FR 79773, Dec. 27, 2022] 

§ 172.502

Prohibited and permissive 

placarding. 

(a) 

Prohibited placarding. 

Except as 

provided in paragraph (b) of this sec-
tion, no person may affix or display on 
a packaging, freight container, unit 
load device, motor vehicle or rail car— 

(1) Any placard described in this sub-

part unless— 

(i) The material being offered or 

transported is a hazardous material; 

(ii) The placard represents a hazard 

of the hazardous material being offered 
or transported; and 

(iii) Any placarding conforms to the 

requirements of this subpart. 

(2) Any sign, advertisement, slogan 

(such as ‘‘Drive Safely’’), or device 
that, by its color, design, shape or con-
tent, could be confused with any 
placard prescribed in this subpart. 

(b) 

Exceptions. 

(1) The restrictions in 

paragraph (a) of this section do not 
apply to a bulk packaging, freight con-
tainer, unit load device, transport vehi-
cle or rail car which is placarded in 
conformance with TDG Regulations, 
the IMDG Code or the UN Rec-
ommendations (IBR, see § 171.7 of this 
subchapter). 

(2) The restrictions of paragraph (a) 

of this section do not apply to the dis-
play of a BIOHAZARD marking, a 
‘‘HOT’’ marking, a sour crude oil haz-
ard marking, or an identification num-
ber on a white square-on-point configu-
ration in accordance with § 172.323(c), 
§ 172.325(c), § 172.327(a), or § 172.336(b) of 
this part, respectively. 

(c) 

Permissive placarding. 

Placards 

may be displayed for a hazardous mate-
rial, even when not required, if the 
placarding otherwise conforms to the 
requirements of this subpart. 

[Amdt. 172–123, 55 FR 52599, Dec. 21, 1990, as 
amended at 56 FR 66259, Dec. 20, 1991; Amdt. 
172–151, 62 FR 1230, Jan. 8, 1997; 62 FR 39389, 
39407, July 22, 1997; 66 FR 8647, Feb. 1, 2001; 66 
FR 33426, June 21, 2001; 67 FR 53137, Aug. 14, 
2002; 68 FR 75741, Dec. 31, 2003; 76 FR 3367, 
Jan. 19, 2011; 80 FR 72923, Nov. 23, 2015] 

§ 172.503

Identification number dis-

play on placards. 

For procedures and limitations per-

taining to the display of identification 
numbers on placards, see § 172.334. 

[Amdt. 172–58, 45 FR 34701, May 22, 1980] 

§ 172.504

General placarding require-

ments. 

(a) 

General. 

Except as otherwise pro-

vided in this subchapter, each bulk 
packaging, freight container, unit load 
device, transport vehicle or rail car 
containing any quantity of a hazardous 
material must be placarded on each 
side and each end with the type of plac-
ards specified in tables 1 and 2 of this 
section and in accordance with other 
placarding requirements of this sub-
part, including the specifications for 
the placards named in the tables and 
described in detail in §§ 172.519 through 
172.560. 

(b) 

DANGEROUS placard. 

A freight 

container, unit load device, transport 
vehicle, or rail car which contains non- 
bulk packages with two or more cat-
egories of hazardous materials that re-
quire different placards specified in 
table 2 of paragraph (e) of this section 
may be placarded with a DANGEROUS 
placard instead of the separate 
placarding specified for each of the ma-
terials in table 2 of paragraph (e) of 
this section. However, when 1,000 kg 
(2,205 pounds) aggregate gross weight 
or more of one category of material is 
loaded therein at one loading facility 
on a freight container, unit load de-
vice, transport vehicle, or rail car, the 
placard specified in table 2 of para-
graph (e) of this section for that cat-
egory must be applied. 

(c) 

Exception for less than 454 kg (1,001 

pounds). 

Except for bulk packagings 

and hazardous materials subject to 
§ 172.505, when hazardous materials cov-
ered by table 2 of this section are 
transported by highway or rail, plac-
ards are not required on— 

(1) A transport vehicle or freight con-

tainer which contains less than 454 kg 
(1001 pounds) aggregate gross weight of 
hazardous materials covered by table 2 
of paragraph (e) of this section; or 

(2) A rail car loaded with transport 

vehicles or freight containers, none of 
which is required to be placarded. 

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437 

Pipeline and Haz. Matls. Safety Admin., DOT 

§ 172.504 

The exceptions provided in paragraph 
(c) of this section do not prohibit the 
display of placards in the manner pre-
scribed in this subpart, if not otherwise 
prohibited (see § 172.502), on transport 
vehicles or freight containers which 
are not required to be placarded. 

(d) 

Exception for empty non-bulk pack-

ages. 

Except for hazardous materials 

subject to § 172.505, a non-bulk pack-
aging that contains only the residue of 
a hazardous material covered by Table 
2 of paragraph (e) of this section need 
not be included in determining 
placarding requirements. 

(e) 

Placarding tables. 

Placards are 

specified for hazardous materials in ac-
cordance with the following tables: 

T

ABLE

TO

P

ARAGRAPH

(e) 

Category of material (Hazard class or division number 

and additional description, as appropriate) 

Placard name 

Placard de-

sign section 

reference 

(§ ) 

1.1 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.1 ............................................................

172.522 

1.2 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.2 ............................................................

172.522 

1.3 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.3 ............................................................

172.522 

2.3 ....................................................................................

POISON GAS ..................................................................

172.540 

4.3 ....................................................................................

DANGEROUS WHEN WET ............................................

172.548 

5.2 (Organic peroxide, Type B, liquid or solid, tempera-

ture controlled).

ORGANIC PEROXIDE ....................................................

172.552 

6.1

(material poisonous by inhalation (see § 171.8 of 

this subchapter)).

POISON INHALATION HAZARD ....................................

172.555 

7 (Radioactive Yellow III label only) ................................

RADIOACTIVE

1

..............................................................

172.556 

1

RADIOACTIVE placards are also required for: All shipments of unpackaged LSA–I material or SCO–I; all shipments required 

by §§ 173.427, 173.441, and 173.457 of this subchapter to be operated under exclusive use; and all closed vehicles used in ac-
cordance with § 173.443(d). 

T

ABLE

TO

P

ARAGRAPH

(e) 

Category of material 

(hazard class or division number and additional descrip-

tion, as appropriate) 

Placard name 

Placard 

design 

section 

reference 

(§ ) 

1.4 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.4 ............................................................

172.523 

1.5 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.5 ............................................................

172.524 

1.6 ....................................................................................

EXPLOSIVES 1.6 ............................................................

172.525 

2.1 ....................................................................................

FLAMMABLE GAS ..........................................................

172.532 

2.2 ....................................................................................

NON–FLAMMABLE GAS ................................................

172.528 

3 .......................................................................................

FLAMMABLE ...................................................................

172.542 

Combustible liquid ...........................................................

COMBUSTIBLE ...............................................................

172.544 

4.1 ....................................................................................

FLAMMABLE SOLID .......................................................

172.546 

4.2 ....................................................................................

SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTIBLE ..............................

172.547 

5.1 ....................................................................................

OXIDIZER ........................................................................

172.550 

5.2 (Other than organic peroxide, Type B, liquid or 

solid, temperature controlled).

ORGANIC PEROXIDE ....................................................

172.552 

6.1 (other than material poisonous by inhalation) ..........

POISON ...........................................................................

172.554 

6.2 ....................................................................................

NONE.

8 .......................................................................................

CORROSIVE ...................................................................

172.558 

9 .......................................................................................

CLASS 9 (see § 172.504(f)(9)) ........................................

172.560 

(f) 

Additional placarding exceptions. 

(1) 

When more than one division placard is 
required for Class 1 materials on a 
transport vehicle, rail car, freight con-
tainer or unit load device, only the 
placard representing the lowest divi-
sion number must be displayed. 

(2) A FLAMMABLE placard may be 

used in place of a COMBUSTIBLE 
placard on— 

(i) A cargo tank or portable tank. 

(ii) A compartmented tank car which 

contains both flammable and combus-
tible liquids. 

(3) A NON-FLAMMABLE GAS 

placard is not required on a transport 
vehicle which contains non-flammable 
gas if the transport vehicle also con-
tains flammable gas or oxygen and it is 
placarded with FLAMMABLE GAS or 
OXYGEN placards, as required. 

(4) OXIDIZER placards are not re-

quired for Division 5.1 materials on 

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438 

49 CFR Ch. I (10–1–23 Edition) 

§ 172.505 

freight containers, unit load devices, 
transport vehicles or rail cars which 
also contain Division 1.1 or 1.2 mate-
rials and which are placarded with EX-
PLOSIVES 1.1 or 1.2 placards, as re-
quired. 

(5) For transportation by transport 

vehicle or rail car only, an OXIDIZER 
placard is not required for Division 5.1 
materials on a transport vehicle, rail 
car or freight container which also con-
tains Division 1.5 explosives and is 
placarded with EXPLOSIVES 1.5 plac-
ards, as required. 

(6) The EXPLOSIVE 1.4 placard is not 

required for those Division 1.4 Compat-
ibility Group S (1.4S) materials that 
are not required to be labeled 1.4S. 

(7) For domestic transportation of 

oxygen, compressed or oxygen, refrig-
erated liquid, the OXYGEN placard in 
§ 172.530 of this subpart may be used in 
place of a NON-FLAMMABLE GAS 
placard. 

(8) For domestic transportation, a 

POISON INHALATION HAZARD 
placard is not required on a transport 
vehicle or freight container that is al-
ready placarded with the POISON GAS 
placard. 

(9) For Class 9, a CLASS 9 placard is 

not required for domestic transpor-
tation, including that portion of inter-
national transportation, defined in 
§ 171.8 of this subchapter, which occurs 
within the United States. However, a 
bulk packaging must be marked with 
the appropriate identification number 
on a CLASS 9 placard, an orange panel, 
or a white square-on-point display con-
figuration as required by subpart D of 
this part. 

(10) For Division 6.1, PG III mate-

rials, a POISON placard may be modi-
fied to display the text ‘‘PG III’’ below 
the mid line of the placard. 

(11) For domestic transportation, a 

POISON placard is not required on a 
transport vehicle or freight container 
required to display a POISON INHALA-
TION HAZARD or POISON GAS 
placard. 

(g) For shipments of Class 1 (explo-

sive materials) by aircraft or vessel, 
the applicable compatibility group let-
ter must be displayed on the placards, 
or labels when applicable, required by 
this section. When more than one com-
patibility group placard is required for 

Class 1 materials, only one placard is 
required to be displayed, as provided in 
paragraphs (g)(1) through (g)(4) of this 
section. For the purposes of paragraphs 
(g)(1) through (g)(4), there is a distinc-
tion between the phrases 

explosive arti-

cles 

and 

explosive substances. Explosive 

article 

means an article containing an 

explosive substance; examples include 
a detonator, flare, primer or fuse. 

Ex-

plosive substance 

means a substance 

contained in a packaging that is not 
contained in an article; examples in-
clude black powder and smokeless pow-
der. 

(1) Explosive articles of compat-

ibility groups C, D or E may be plac-
arded displaying compatibility group 
E. 

(2) Explosive articles of compat-

ibility groups C, D, or E, when trans-
ported with those in compatibility 
group N, may be placarded displaying 
compatibility group D. 

(3) Explosive substances of compat-

ibility groups C and D may be plac-
arded displaying compatibility group 
D. 

(4) Explosive articles of compat-

ibility groups C, D, E or G, except for 
fireworks, may be placarded displaying 
compatibility group E. 

[Amdt. 172–123, 55 FR 52600, Dec. 21, 1990] 

E

DITORIAL

N

OTE

: For F

EDERAL

R

EGISTER

ci-

tations affecting § 172.504, see the List of CFR 
Sections Affected, which appears in the 
Finding Aids section of the printed volume 
and at 

www.govinfo.gov. 

§ 172.505

Placarding for subsidiary 

hazards. 

(a) Each transport vehicle, freight 

container, portable tank, unit load de-
vice, or rail car that contains a poi-
sonous material subject to the ‘‘Poison 
Inhalation Hazard’’ shipping descrip-
tion of § 172.203(m) must be placarded 
with a POISON INHALATION HAZARD 
or POISON GAS placard, as appro-
priate, on each side and each end, in 
addition to any other placard required 
for that material in § 172.504. Duplica-
tion of the POISON INHALATION 
HAZARD or POISON GAS placard is 
not required. 

(b) In addition to the RADIOACTIVE 

placard which may be required by 
§ 172.504(e), each transport vehicle, 
portable tank or freight container that