Grenades are explosive articles designed to be thrown by hand or by grenade launchers. The shape of grenades looks like pomegranate thus the origin of name grenade.
Most of the grenades are activated by a time delay fuse. To ignite the fuse user need to pull out a safety pin.
There are chemical grenades, gas grenades, incendiary grenades etc. Fragmentation and concussion grenades are anti-personnel coming under explosive grenade category.
Cutaway view of fragmentation hand grenade DM61A1 and practice grenade DM78A1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Song dynasty of China (CE 960-1127) is known to be the inventors of first grenade. Below a quote from Huolongjing, written in 14th centuary
The shells (pào) are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of ‘divine fire’ (shén huǒ, gunpowder). They are sent flying towards the enemy camp from an eruptor (mu pào); and when they get there a sound like a thunder-clap is heard, and flashes of light appear. If ten of these shells are fired successfully into the enemy camp, the whole place will be set ablaze…
Emergency Response Guidebook, 2008, is intended to be used by first responders during a transport incident involving dangerous goods. This guide is jointly prepared by Transport Canada (TC), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Secretariat of Transport and Communications of Mexico (SCT) and with the collaboration of CIQUIME (Centro de Informaciòn Quìmica para Emergencias) of Argentina.
This guidebook does not replace training requirement and may only have limited value in dealing with incidents at fixed installations.
Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Organometallics have wide use in catalytic process including production of Polyethylene and polypropylene.
Depending on their properties, organometallic substances may be classified in classes 4.2 (substances liable to spontaneous combustion) or 4.3 (substances when in contact with water emits flammable gas). IMDG Code lists organometallic substances with UN ID 3391 to 3400.
These substances are very dangerous due to their potential to start fire especially UN 3394 ORGANOMETALLIC SUBSTANCE, LIQUID, PYROPHORIC, WATER-REACTIVE. Up to IMDG code 34th amendment UN 3394 was prohibited to be carried on ships carrying explosives. After various safety considerations of modern vessels IMO amended IMDG Code allowing UN 3394 on ships carrying dangerous goods with special requirement of stowage.
STOWAGE 3394 IMDG 34-08STOWAGE 3394 IMDG 35-10
IMDG code observation on UN 3394 states this substance as “Highly flammable liquid. Liable to ignite spontaneously in air. In contact with air, evolve irritating and slightly toxic fumes. React violently with moisture, water and acids evolving flammable gas.”
Below is the difference in IMDG Code 34th and 35th amendment for UN 3394 stowage.
Non containerized packages of UN 3394 and Explosives
If it is non-containerized packages then Separated longitudinally by an intervening complete compartment or hold from means : Vertical separation alone does not meet this requirement. Between a package under deck and one on deck, a minimum distance of 24 m, including a complete compartment, must be maintained longitudinally. For on deck stowage, this segregation means a separation by a distance of at least 24 metres longitudinally.
Segregation of packages containing dangerous goods and stowed in the conventional way
Containerized UN 3394 and Explosives
SEPARATED LONGITUDINALLY BY AN INTERVENING COMPLETE COMPARTMENT OR HOLD FROM
In many Material Safety Data Sheets we see LD50 , What is LD50 ?
Definition of LD50 given in IMDG Code is “LD50 (median lethal dose) for acute oral toxicity is the statistically derived single dose of a substance that can be expected to cause death within 14 days in 50 per cent of young adult albino rats when administered by the oral route. The LD50 value is expressed in terms of mass of test substance per mass of test animal (mg/kg).”
The hazard symbol for toxic/highly toxic substances according to directive 67/548/EWG by the European Chemicals Bureau. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Which means the amount of a substance required to kill at least 50% test animal when administered orally (in above case) with respect to their body weight.
LD50 is issued for toxicity in oral and dermal route and LC50 is used for toxicity in inhalation route.
Let us see some examples of LD50 which can kill 50% of adult albino rats compared to humans
LD50 for paracetamol is 1.944g , over dosage may cause death due to liver failure.
However this is not an absolute figure some may be killed with much less dosage than LD50 and some may survive much higher dosage. These LD50 figures assist the experts in predicting toxicity giving a safe margin in practical applications.
LC50 – Lethal Concentration is also measured in same way for inhalation toxicity.
Skull and crossbones (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dermal
LD50 for acute dermal toxicity is that dose of the substance which, administered by continuous contact for 24 hours with the bare skin of the albino rabbit, is most likely to cause death within 14 days in one half of the animals tested. The number of animals tested shall be sufficient to give a statistically significant result and be in conformity with good pharmacological practices. The result is expressed in milligrams per kilogram body mass.
Inhalation
LC50 for acute toxicity on inhalation is that concentration of vapour, mist or dust which, administered by continuous inhalation to both male and female young adult albino rats for one hour, is most likely to cause death within 14 days in one half of the animals tested. A solid substance shall be tested if at least 10% (by mass) of its total mass is likely to be dust in the respirable range, such as the aerodynamic diameter of that particle fraction is 10 microns or less. A liquid substance shall be tested if a mist is likely to be generated in a leakage of the transport containment. For both solid and liquid substances, more than 90% (by mass) of a specimen prepared for inhalation toxicity testing shall be in the respirable range as defined above. The result is expressed in milligrams per litre of air for dusts and mists or in millilitres per cubic metre of air (parts per million) for vapours.
Toxicity Classification for Sea Transport
Refer IMDG Code chapter 2.6 for classification criteria of toxic substances for sea transport.
Sulphuric Acid is one of the most important chemical in the industry. Production and or consumption of sulphuric acid by a nation can be a measure for its growth.
There are various uses for sulphuric acid in modern industries. One of the use for sulphuric acid is in petrochemical industry as petroleum catalysts.
Bristol Harbour Railway (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sulphuric acid used as petroleum catalysts is still highly corrosive. Transport regulation lists this as UN 1906, SLUDGE ACID, Class 8 (Corrosive substances)
Textile wastes are waste mainly from clothing and textile industry. Textile wastes may be of Hosiery Clips, Cotton Yarn Waste, Hosiery Cutting etc. Textile wastes are sometimes recycled into cloths or dumped in landfills.
Textile recycling point, off St John's Road In aid of Hampshire and Isle of Wight air ambulance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Once cloths are contaminated or become wet it cannot be sold and end up as waste. as per US EPA in the year 2009 an estimated 1.3 million tons of textiles in clothing were recovered for recycling in 2009.
Sunday textile market on the sidewalks of Karachi, Pakistan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Textile wastes when wet may burn spontaneously. IMDG Code lists textile waste as UN 1857, TEXTILE WASTE, WET, Class 4.2 with observation ” Liable to ignite spontaneously in air according to moisture content.”
Sodium sulphide is a chemical used in leather, paper and photographic industry. It is also used in water treatment as an oxygen scavenger. This chemical is dangerous when in contact with moisture in air as it produces hydrogen sulphide a very toxic and flammable gas. Sodium sulphide dangerously reacts with acids evolving hydrogen sulphide hence this must always be kept separated from acids when in transport or during storage.
Packages containing sodium sulphide must always be hermetically sealed to avoid contact with air.
IMDG Code lists Sodium Sulphide as below
Class 4.2 (Substances Liable to Spontaneous Combustion) UN 1385 SODIUM SULPHIDE, ANHYDROUS or SODIUM SULPHIDE with less than 30% water of crystallization
Class 8 (Corrosive Substances) – UN 1849 SODIUM SULPHIDE, HYDRATED with not less than 30% water
Differences between these two entries are only in their water content.
A long international voyage of an unknown sailor and his small occasion to celebrate.
Anno Domini 15th October 2010 evening I shutdown my office workstation (at Maersk) and walked off to the retired life at the age of 40. I didn’t had much plans in my life other than relaxing in my home town, a small city, Calicut, fanned by gentle breeze from Arabian Sea.
Back at home, Bombay, on that evening I made a blog account thinking I will narrate my long journey in life.
Why long journey in life by 40, because I always followed my heart. A life’s journey followed by heart is much longer than a scheduled journey, because the true happiness is in journeying not in the destination.
That's Me
I always followed my heart, where I loved to stay I stayed long, where I didn’t love to stay I moved on. When I was sailing on long voyages I loved the staying in the going. When I stayed long during breaks in sailing or worked on storage tankers moored to SPM many nautical miles off the shore I loved the going in the staying.
In between sailing I took a break of 2 years and lived in West Africa, Tema and Abidjan mainly, involving myself into various aspects of port operations related to MPVs. It was one of the best days in my life spent in gold coast and ivory coast. Once I sat Hours and hours at Cape Coast Castle where 100s and 1000s of slaves were held captive before their fateful voyage across Atlantic commenced.
Cape Coast Castle
I was also involved in transporting ECOWAS Soldiers to Liberia for peace keeping mission, a life time experience of loading and discharging armored cars, ammunition and heavy artillery into and out of the cargo holds. Arranging the logistics for 1000 plus soldiers to sail on ship, installing their military radio station and antenna ,testing their radio. Communication was HF SSB Radio Telephony and Morse code. I felt am a soldier without uniform. Oops! I felt a soldier in Merchant Marine uniform 😉
Later during 1999 coup in Ivory Coast I had to save myself from looting, arson, gunshots and finally flee the country with nothing but the cloths I wore and my passport. Of course when I got out of then Sahar airport I had the stub of the air ticket additionally together with cloths I wore, passport and a one rupee coin which had hid itself in my jeans pocket. I walked from Sahar airport (Mumbai) , some 20 odd kilometers, to D.N. Road and borrowed a pen to fill up withdrawal form at my bank. The meal I had then at a restaurant is the best I ever had in life though cockroaches were playing on the table. I lost many of my documents and a box full of old photographs and negatives I had with me. I hadn’t changed to digital camera then, technologically less savvy I am. But those memories I still cherish in my heart.
Remembering those good old days I still some time test my ability to key Morse code.
My dusty old Morse Key
Coming back to the immediate days after leaving my last job and opening blog account, I sat in front of my laptop thinking what to write and where to start. I entered some small notes on dangerous goods; a topic very fresh in my mind after working 8 years in P& O Nedlloyd and Maersk dangerous goods department.
My blog entry was very infrequent through the months. Later one day I received an email from Microsoft stating that they are stopping the blog service and it will be automatically transferred to WordPress. I obliged and moved all my previous ‘rare’ entries on to WordPress.com
My entries during September and October 2011
13 entries in Sept 2011 is accumulated figure from Oct 2010.
Then at home town I bought a mountain bike and started cycling. Hitting out on the road before sunrise coasting Calicut’s beach road and turn back home from Beypore port some 17 kilometers one way.
Beypore port entry
Ability to read is a real gift, with this gift we can immerse ourselves into the world of literature. I indulge myself into reading any book I come across be it political, historical, religious or atheist. When I look back at my working days and now the graph of reading hasn’t changed much as reading was always part of me.
My Bookshelf
From Milton’s Paradise Lost , through Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina or Khayyam’s Rubaiyat one can spent his life journeying through letters. Need not mention Don Quixote of Miguel De Cervantes which makes me feel am another Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of Calicut 🙂
Back at blog, during my interaction with various people in industry I realized there is definitely a lack of general understanding in dangerous goods transportation. How to rectify it? Training, already made mandatory by IMO. Yes training is mandatory and is undertaken by many.
But training starts and ends within a scheduled timetable. What happens if the trainee had any doubt many days, weeks or months after training? This was the question pondering my mind. Who will answer him or her? Whom the trainee can approach post training with a specific question?
Then late in November 2011 I decided to write on blog again. But what to write? I started recalling what I used to ask myself during my initial days in dangerous goods safety department and on those topics I started writing on blog.
How much more I wrote? In November 2011 I wrote one more entry
End November my blog entry status looked like this.
Watching the visitor status I felt I am the most frequent visitor reading my blog through admin panel but later the number of visitors started growing. The topics they read made me understand what information they are looking for. This encouraged me to write more and more.
End December my blog entry status looked like this.
Then I got a Class 1.4S fireworks email from WordPress.com celebrating my blog status 😉
Blog Visitor Status – Months and Years
I realized that when I write more number of visitors are increasing, compare no. of entries and visitors for Oct, Nov and Dec below.
This encouraged me to write more about what readers are looking for and my status went on to end of March 31st as below
Across the globe there are dedicated people ensuring compliance to SOLAS, 1974, as amended, and MARPOL 73/78 for safety and environmental protection during transport of dangerous goods.
I am happy to serve those who are looking for information about safe transport of dangerous goods by Road, Rail, River and Sea. Its my duty to give back to the industry what it taught me!
Today I will celebrate passing the milestone of 10,00th reading of my safety blog with “BEER”, because
“An aqueous solution containing not more than 24% alcohol by volume is not subject to the provisions of IMDG Code.” 😉
This is one of the question frequently I receive from many readers. Please note all entries, unless specifically mentioned, in this blog is interpretation of various clauses in IMDG Code 35-10.
When I start writing about IMDG Code 36-12 I will specifically mention same.
IMDG Code Compliance Centre 