• Packagings for dangerous goods must be strong enough to withstand conditions encountered during transport, including through different modes of travel (highway, air, etc.)
• Packaging must be appropriate to the type of material being shipped, whether it is a solid, liquid, or liquid that may become a solid.
• Before filling and handing over for transport, shippers must inspect every packaging to ensure it is free from corrosion, contamination, or other damage.

Dangerous goods packagings must be strong enough to withstand the shocks and loadings normally encountered in transport. Packages must prevent any loss of contents that might be caused:

• Under normal conditions of transport,
• By vibration, or
• By changes in temperature, humidity, or pressure (resulting from altitude, for example).

All packages, inner packagings, and receptacles must be closed according to manufacturer instructions. No dangerous residue may adhere to the outside of packages during transport. This applies to all packaging, including new, reconditioned, and remanufactured.

During shipping, packages regularly move between different modes of transport, from vehicles into warehouses and then onto aircraft, for example. To avoid damage and leakage from packages during transport, shippers should take this into account when selecting appropriate packaging or determining the suitability of an already packaged item.

Because of this, when transporting single steel or aluminum packagings in narrow-bodied aircraft, always provide overpacks, pallets, or another means to protect the bottom head and chime against abrasive effects experienced in loading the aircraft.

Also use overpacks for small single packagings (with a capacity of 2 L or less) to:

• Facilitate handling, and
• Permit adequate securing of the dangerous goods aboard the aircraft.

Manufacturers and subsequent distributors of packagings must provide:

• Procedures to be followed for use (including closure instructions for inner packagings and receptacles);
• A description of the types and dimensions of closures (including required gaskets); and
• Any other components needed to ensure that packages presented for transport comply with applicable performance tests and pressure differential requirements.

Packaging test requirements

New, remanufactured, reused, or reconditioned packagings must meet the requirements of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) Section 6. The packagings must be manufactured and tested under a quality assurance program to ensure that they meet the applicable requirements.

Temperature and vibration resistance

The body and the closure of any packaging must be constructed to resist the effects of temperature and vibration that occur in normal conditions of transport. The closure device must be designed so it:

• Is unlikely to be incorrectly or incompletely closed,
• May easily be checked to determine that it is completely closed, and
• Remains closed during transport.

Closures on inner packagings containing liquids must be held securely, tightly, and effectively in place by secondary means.

When secondary means of closure cannot be used, the inner packaging must be:

• Securely closed,
• Placed in a leakproof liner, and
• Placed in an outer packaging.

Internal pressure standards

Packagings designed to retain liquid must be capable of withstanding, without leakage, an internal pressure that produces a pressure differential of the greater of the following:

• Not less than 95 kPa (0.95 bar),
• Not less than 75 kPa (0.75 bar) for liquids in Packing Group III of Class 3 or Division 6.1, or
• A pressure related to the vapor pressure of the liquid to be conveyed.

The pressure related to the vapor pressure must be determined by one of the methods described in the IATA DGR Section 5.0.2.9.

Packagings for liquids

Packaging that will contain liquids must successfully pass a test showing it is leak-proof:

• Before it is first used for transport; and
• Before it is used for transport after being remanufactured or reconditioned.

Packagings for solids that may become liquid

Packagings used for solids that may become liquid at temperatures encountered during air transport must be able to contain that substance in the liquid state.

Packagings for solids (both inner and single) that may be permitted by the packing instruction should not be used if they are unsuitable for containing liquids. For example, paper or plastic bags as inner packagings or unlined fiber drums as single packagings should not be used.

Where single packagings are permitted for these substances, only single packagings approved for solid materials may be used.