Safe and compliant shipments of dangerous goods come from the combination of deep knowledge of the legislation in this field, and the skill to apply these rules in daily practice. Whatever your role or task in this operational chain is, you must operate responsibly, in compliance with the rules for the shipment of dangerous goods. Only then you can ship at "zero risks."
Right about risks and rules, we want to get an insight about neutral orange plate marking for transport ADR. To correctly signal transport meansused for dangerous goods, it is necessary to apply specific orange panels that may vary in dimensions and content according to the type of transport. About the use of neutral orange panels, we have often heard the following question:
Can I use the 300x120 mm neutral orange panel instead of the 400x300 mm one?
Let's see the answer in detail to avoid useless sanctions.
For ADR transport by road, a 400x300 mm neutral panel is requested. It must be retroreflective and with a 15 mm thick black outline. The used material must be weatherproof and must guarantee long-term signaling. The panel must not come off after a fire lasting 15 minutes.
Only if the dimension and the structure of the vehicle are not suitable to apply these orange panels, their dimensions can be reduced to a minimum of 300 mm in width, 120 mm in height, and 10 mm for the black outline. This opportunity to use panels of smaller dimensions is valid only for the neutral version of orange panels.
Beware! If you choose to use a smaller dimensions panel even if the dimensions of the vehicle allow you to apply a "regular" 400x300 mm panel, the vehicle is considered as lacking in panels; therefore it can be sanctioned according to article 168 c9 of Italian Traffic Law, as written in the handbook given to law enforcement. In this case, the driver, the vehicle owner, and the consignor will receive a sanction. The driver will receive a further sanction, thus the invalidation of the registration certificate and the driver's license for two months; on top of that 10 points are cut from the license.
Here you may see two real examples in comparison. On the left there is enough space on the vehicle to put a regular panel, but the neutral orange panel used is smaller (300x120 mm), and therefore can be sanctioned. In the second example the same vehicle is regularly signaled with an orange panel (400x300 mm) and therefore is compliant with the norms.