Just What the Heck is That Truck Hauling?

We see them every day. Big trucks carrying haz mat passing us on the highways. Each is required to have 4 placards (one facing each direction) on the trailer. Well the one on the front of the trailer can in some instances be on the front of the tractor. But what do they mean? Each placard will have a small number in the bottom corner and a large number in the middle. Some won't have the large number in the middle though.

If the placard is orange that means explosives. A red one means flammable. Yellow is oxidizers. White with vertical red stripes means flammable solids. White means poison. White on top black on bottom indicates corrosive. There are of course variations of this but basically that is what you will be seeing out there on the road. In the middle of some placards and in other cases under the placard will be a 4 digit black number on an orange background indicates the actual material being hauled. Below I have listed some of the most common you will see along with some interesting or sphincter tightening ones that you hope never pass you.

1013 Good ole Carbon Dioxide
1028 R12 Refrigerent
1018 R22 Refrigerant
1049 Hindenburg ballast aka Hydrogen
1056 Watch out Superman Krypton
1070 Nitrous Oxide Laugh it up
1202 Diesel sometimes 1993
1203 Gasoline
1654 Nicotine
1700 Tear Gas Gernades
1076 Phosgene
2810 VX (JHTDC!!!!!!!)
1075 or 1978 Propane
1789 HCL Hydorcloric Acid
2710 GB aka Sarin
3245 Genetically modified micro-organisms

And of course if 1013 is in liquid form the number will be different because of different hazards associated with the transport of it. If you see any out there and are curious email em to me and I will tell you what you passed or what passed you. Or get your own copy of the Emergency Response Guidebook availible in most truck stops. ISBN 1-57943-894-6