Transport of Biological Hazards
This guidance is provided to help you safely transport your biological hazards. National and international health and safety, animal health, plant health and environmental legislation require employers to protect people and the environment against risks from transport of dangerous goods. There are complex national and international regulations on the control of transport by road, rail, sea and air as well as import and export of dangerous goods. Biological hazards are dangerous goods which include substances or articles containing them for the purposes of the safe carriage of dangerous goods. Please note that this guidance is only a brief summary of some of the requirements involved in the transport of biological hazards but it does not cover all aspects of this complex field. The detailed regulations are given in guidance supplied by the national and international regulators. You need to read the relevant regulatory guidance documents, use trained and competent staff and where needed take appropriate advice in order to ensure that transporting biological hazards will be carried out in compliance with national and international law and regulations.
The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations is the main UK law relating to control of transport of dangerous goods. There are important international laws and regulations for transport by road, rail, sea and air including the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) which incorporates the ICAO regulations and is produced by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The ICAO regulations apply on all international flights and the civil aviation authority (CAA) applies national legislation based on the ICAO regulations for national flights in the UK. Details of state and operator variations are supplied in the ICAO Technical Instructions and in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. The controls required for transport of biological hazards is similar for the different modes of transport although materials sent by air generally have the most stringent standards.
Biological hazards must be classified, packaged, labelled and safely transported from the sender to the receiver in such a way as to prevent exposure or release during all stages of transport to effectively protect people and the environment. There is detailed guidance on transport of dangerous goods and biological hazards which must be followed that is available from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Department for Transport (DFT), Scottish Government, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). You need to read the relevant guidance if you are working with biological hazards and to understand how best to safely transport your biological hazards nationally within the UK and internationally. Here are important websites that you may need to refer for the detailed regulations and guidance on the transport of biological hazards and carriage of dangerous goods.
- HSE Carriage of Dangerous Goods
- GOVUK Shipping Dangerous Goods
- GOVUK Internaional Carriage of Dangerous Goods
- DFT Moving Dangerous Goods
- IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations
- ICAO Dangerous Goods
- DEFRA Animal Health
- DEFRA Plant Health
- Scottish Government Animal Health
- Scottish Government Plant Health
These guidance documents contain useful practical information on the classification, packaging, labelling and transport of biological hazards. Please read these guidance since it will help you understand how best to safely transport your biological hazards nationally and internationally.
- HSE ACDP Management and operation of microbiological containment laboratories
- HSE Containment and control of specified animal pathogens
The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced excellent guidance on the transport of biological hazards which is available on the WHO website.
If you need any advice on the transport of biological hazards then please first contact your safety coordinator who is there to advise you on all aspects of health and safety. Managers and safety coordinators can obtain more detailed advice where necessary from the Safety and Environmental Protection Service. You can obtain specialist advice from a dangerous goods safety adviser (DGSA) if you use a dangerous goods carrier company to transport biological hazards and dangerous goods.