# ARUP Laboratories — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** 03-0161
- **title:** ARUP Laboratories — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation
- **source type:** guidance
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** guidance
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2003-08-11
- **effective on:** Not available
- **summary:** 03-0161 response to ARUP Laboratories concerning 173.196, 173.199.
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- **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-03-0161.md
- **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-03-0161
- **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2003/030161.pdf
**body:**

<<<PAGE 1>>>

of Transportation
U.S. Department
400 Seventh St., S.W.
Research and
Washington, D.C. 20590
Special Programs
Administration
AUG 1 1 2003
Mr. Paul H. Brinton
Ref. No. 03-0161
Assistant Vice President, Transportation and Logistics
ARUP Laboratories
00 Chipeta Way
Salt Lake City, Utah 8410
Dear Mr. Brinton:
This responds to your email of July 2, 2003, concerning the applicability the Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) to the transportation of infectious substances.
Specifically, you ask about shipping paper and package labeling requirements for a shipment containing
multiple pathogens.
According to your email, you ship specimens in containers that are placed inside plastic bags and then
placed within pressure vessels. Each specimen container may contain a different pathogen. Several
pressure vessels are then placed with temperature media inside a secondary packaging that consists of
a layer of fiberboard, a layer of urethane, and an additional layer of fiberboard that is coated with
waterproofing. The secondary packagings are then placed within an outside packaging. You provide
an example of a shipping paper for a single package that contains three 5-ml tubes of Hepatitis C and
one 5-ml tube of Human immunodeficiency virus packed with 2.2 kg of dry ice. You ask how the
different hazardous materials contained in the package should be listed on the shipping paper.
Your shipping paper entry for the infectious substances packed with dry ice should read as follows:
Proper Shipping Name
UN or It
Packing
Group
Subsidiary Risk
Quantity and type of packaging
affecting humans (Hepatitis
Infectious substance,
6.2
UN 2814
20 ml
immunodeficiency virus)
C, Human
AND
Carbon dioxide, solid
UN 1845
Ill
2.2kg
Packed in 1 plastic box
173.196173199
030161

<<<PAGE 2>>>

As an alternative, you may elect to list each pathogen separately. In that case, your shipping paper
entry should read as follows:
Proper Stripping Name
Class or
Division
UN or ID No.
Packing
Group
Subsidiary Risk
Quantity and type of packaging
affecting humans (Hopatitis
Infectious substance,
6.2
UN 2814
15 ml
c)
AND
affecting humans (Human
Infectious substance,
6.2
UN 2814
5 ml
immunodeficiency virus)
AND
Carbon dioxide, solid
UN 1845
22kg
Packed in 1 plastic box
With your email, your provided a copy of the label that you propose to utilize to meet the package
be marked with the technical name of the hazardous material in parentheses in association with the
marking requirements of § 172.301 of the HMR. Paragraph (b) of § 172.301 requires a package to
proper shipping name. On the label you provided, the technical names of the material are not listed in
parentheses in association with the proper shipping name. To conform with § 172.301(b), the package
must be marked "Infectious substance, affecting humans (Hepatitis C, Human immunodeficiency virus)".
I hope this information is helpful. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact this
office.
Sincerely,
Edward T. Mazzullo
Director, Office of Hazardous
Materials Standards
...........

<<<PAGE 3>>>

Gorsku
Gorsky, Susan
€ /13/14
Sent:
From:
Brinton, Paul [brintoph@arupiab.com]
Subject:
To:
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 12:09 PM
$173.199
Gorsky, Susan
Infectious Substance
RE: DOT Infectious Substance/Diagnostic Specimen Transport Regulations
03-0161
Open Pressure Vessel
with tube...
Box with inner
sections.jpg
Box with opened
refrigerated s...
DGD Form_filled
out.jpg
Box roady for
shipping.jpg
Open Pressure
Vessel.jpg
Proper Shipping Name
outer, and then
Our packaging generally consists of a corrugated plastic
three possible configurations of inner containers, one for each temperature
of specimen being shipped.
fiberboard, a one inch layer of urethane,
The inner containers
an additional layer of fiberboard,
consist of a layer of
and that layer is coated with a waterproofing coating.
medium, either cold gel packs,
or dry ice is interspersed with the pressure
The temperature
vessels inside the inner container.
containers, inside plastic bags and then inside the pressure vessels.
The specimens are generally in specimen
certification markings are on the plastic outer layer.
from the outer plastic jacket was certified as a pack the entire
package was certified as a whole, the package is not considered an over
I am including some pictures of our process.
II not, I would be happy to print them and send them to you.
I hope you can receive
questions, please call or contact me.
brief explanations as to what they show.
In addition, I would like to request
If you have
labeling of the shipping container with the names of the organisms.
an official letter supporting our position on the
format of the DGD and the
may be able to give us.
that label the Proper Shipping Name (PSN) label.
Thank you for any help you
Paul H. Brinton, MT (ASP)
President, Transportation
& Logistics
500 Chipeta Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
brintonph@aruplab.com <mailto:brintonph@aruplab.com>
(801) 584-5136
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, June
Susan [mailto:Susan.Gorsky@rspa.dot.gov]
'brintoph@aruplab.com'
Regulations
RE: DOT Infectious Substance/Diagnostic Specimen Transport
Paul,
I have consulted with several of my colleagues in the Hazmat Standards
multiple organisms in one
The answer to your question depends on how you package your
box, then you may list "Infectious substance, affecting humans" once on the
If by one shipment you mean a single
shipping paper and list the different organisms in parentheses after the
boxes, then you must separately list the contents of each box on the
However, if your one shipment consists of several different
shipping paper (thus, if five boxes, then five separate entries for
"Infectious substance, affecting humans" followed by the technical name of

<<<PAGE 4>>>

the specific organism after each entry). I hope this is helpful.
Susan
From: Brinton, Paul [mailto:brintoph@aruplab.com]
•----Original Message-----
To: Gorsky, Susan
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 3:44
Regulations
Subject: RE: DOT Infectious Substance/Diagnostic Specimen Transport
Susan, I am wrestling with an issue
as to how a Dangerous Goods Declaration
It has been our procedure to list
1 Son or procedure es is enforcise botan ame in
Longe so Char forat, and and apcat he Treet o3 anement for dan
that, placed inside parentheses.
the opportunity for errors and extra forms to no good purpose.
This seems overly complex to us,
me information to help alleviate this situation, or direct me to someone
Can you give
that may be able to help ? Thank you very much.
Paul H. Brinton, MI (ASCP)
ARUP Laboratories
Assistant Vice
President, Transportation & Logistics
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
500 Chipeta Way
brintonph@aruplab.com<mailto:brintonph@aruplab.com>
(801) 584-5136
«<Box with opened refrigerated section. ipg>›
Vessel with tubes. jpg>>
«<DGD Form_filled out. jpg»>
with inner sections. jpg>>
Vessels wth gel packs.jpg>>
shipping. jpg>>
«Proper Shipping Name Label. ipq>>
«Open Pressure Vessel.jpg>>
«Pressure
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- **body characters:** 7034
