Dangerous Goods in Your Warehouse: Would You Spot Them? | Ep 9

Dangerous goods in warehouses: ADR explained, limited quantities, lithium-ion battery storage, safety data sheets, spill response and high consequence goods. In this episode of ShedTalk, Tony Gresty and Naomi Jones sit down with Jay Laverick, founder of Impact QHSE and a dangerous goods safety adviser, to get to grips with what warehouse teams really need to know about the hazardous stock moving through their buildings. Jay started out behind the wheel of an HGV, so this is dangerous goods from the loading bay up, not from a textbook. The conversation runs from the 1874 barge explosion in Regent's Park that led to the first explosives law, to the diamond on your parcels most people walk straight past. Jay covers who is legally responsible along the chain, why paperwork and fire extinguishers are the classic roadside failures, all nine classes, high consequence goods and security plans, and the worst incident of his career: 27,000 litres of a toxic, corrosive material that ate its way out of the wrong tank. Key points: 📦 Why the black and white diamond on a parcel means limited quantities, and why those goods are still inside ADR 📋 The three things on a dangerous goods note that tell you what just arrived: UN number, class and packing group 🔋 Why lithium-ion batteries fall into a gap in the rules, and what warehouses can learn from the waste industry 🧯 Why the fire extinguisher is there to clear your way out, not to take on a burning battery 💥 How a condemned ship's ammonium nitrate, left in a dockside warehouse, became the Beirut explosion Chapters 00:00:00 Cold open 00:00:34 Dangerous goods vs hazardous goods 00:02:09 The 1874 barge explosion behind the first law 00:06:33 From HGV driver to dangerous goods adviser 00:09:52 Who is responsible when it goes wrong 00:13:44 Limited quantities and the diamond on your parcels 00:17:34 Lithium-ion batteries and the gap in the rules 00:21:25 Unexpected dangerous goods in a delivery 00:24:08 UN numbers and the nine classes 00:34:34 High consequence dangerous goods and security 00:37:19 Segregation, thermal runaway and getting out 00:43:16 Spills, safety data sheets and the one-pager 00:48:43 Beirut and why ammonium nitrate explodes 01:02:51 The worst incident Jay has dealt with 01:10:27 What to do on Monday morning Limited quantities are the part most warehouses get wrong. The diamond label means the goods are packed in small enough amounts to be let off things like orange boards, not that they have left ADR, and a whole trailer can be full of them. If a forklift spears a pallet of limited quantity cleaning products, whatever spills is still corrosive or flammable, and the right response is written on the safety data sheet. Jay's advice is simple: ask for the safety data sheet for anything dangerous you take in, and turn it into a single page that sits next to the stock. Lithium-ion batteries are the growing headache. The rules have not caught up, so Jay goes back to first principles: own the risk, lean on your fire risk assessment, and learn from the waste industry and the automotive trade, which already quarantines damaged electric vehicles to watch for thermal runaway. With distributors now asking warehouses to take back faulty batteries, the risk is heading down the supply chain. When one goes, the toxic gases can arrive before the flames. Get out, and get everyone else out. The thread running through the whole episode is that people are not a control. Jay uses Fred Dibnah, the steeplejack who climbed chimneys for decades without a fall, to make the point: one skilled person can manage a huge amount of risk, but you cannot hand that to an agency worker on a Monday. Good dangerous goods management is repeatable, written down and still works when the one person who knows is on holiday. If you work in warehousing, logistics, fulfilment, supply chain, transport, 3PL or materials handling and you have ever wondered what is really in the pallets on your racking, this one is for you. Guest: Jay Laverick, Impact QHSE   / jaylaverick01   Connect with the hosts: Tony Gresty   / tonygresty   Naomi Jones   / naomi-e-jones   Subscribe for fortnightly conversations from the warehouse floor:    / @shedtalkpod   ShedTalk. All Shed and Done. #logistics #supplychain #warehouse #warehousing #dangerousgoods #ADR #DGSA #hazmat #lithiumion #limitedquantities #warehousesafety #firesafety #3PL #UKlogistics #ShedTalk #AllShedAndDone