UN certified storage containers

Transport of hazardous substances

Packaging for the cross-border transport of dangerous goods, i.e. hazardous substances, must be certified according to United Nations (UN) standards. The international agreements for the transport of dangerous goods require packaging to meet a certain design and to be certified by a national competent authority. Over the years, Engels has built up considerable expertise in this field with its range of UN certified bins, drums and pallet boxes.

What does the UN mark mean?

The transport of dangerous goods is only permitted in UN-approved packaging. The UN mark indicates that the packaging corresponds to a prototype that has been tested and complies with the regulations. Please note that there is a difference between a UN mark and a UN number. A UN mark is assigned to a packaging, a UN number is the number assigned to hazardous substances and goods. 

There are three categories of packaging groups:

• Packing group I for very dangerous substances
• Packing group II for dangerous substances
• Packing group III for less dangerous substances

Packaging in packaging group I has to pass more stringent tests than packaging in groups II and III. This concerns, for example, drop, stacking or air pressure tests. After the inspection, the packaging (in English therefore UN-approved bins, drums and pallet boxes) are provided with a UN mark. The UN mark on UN-approved packaging consists of a code from which you can read what type of packaging it is and to what extent it has been tested.
The requirements are related to:

• Labelling and printing
• (Liquid) density
• Drop and stack resistance at high and low temperatures

Validity

For rigid plastics IBCs and combination IBCs, there is limited validity in use of UN approved packaging (UN mark 11h2). For English UN approved containers, there is unlimited validity in use, except if there is a change in the design. For example, if the material use or the construction of the packaging changes and deviates from the first approved prototype, then the UN certification mark expires and the UN approved packaging must be retested.

The validity of the approval report (certificate) that an approval authority records after awarding a UN mark varies from country to country. For Engels, all our test reports are valid indefinitely, because they are issued in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is of course ensured that the conditions for unlimited validity are met.