Transporting dangerous goods

The vast majority of shipments of dangerous goods reach their destinations safely: out of 30 million shipments of dangerous goods in 2002, there were approximately 540 accidents. That means over 99 per cent of shipments made it safely to their destination. And most of the accidents were minor and occurred during the handling process, not during transportation. In fact, very few accidents involving dangerous goods are caused by the goods themselves.

Transport Canada does many things to promote safety in this area, including:

• establishing regulations for the safe transport of dangerous goods;
• providing information and guidance on how to transport these goods safely; and
• operating the Canadian Transport Emergency Centre to assist emergency response personnel in handling dangerous goods.

Quick fact

• Each day nearly 80,000 shipments of dangerous goods are moved by road, rail, water and air in Canada. Some of these goods are products that Canadians count on every day, like gasoline and automotive oil. They also include potentially hazardous materials like explosives, pesticides, radioactive materials and gases.

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