Reasons for Inter-Laboratory Package Test Result Variations

摘要

Developing specific packagings to meet a series of different UN markings depending on the product to be packed would lead to more packagings in the marketplace, which is not in accordance with current "Lean" manufacturing principles. It has been the trend since UN POP became the new 49 CFR standard to make pack-agings marked to cover the broadest range of ladings and also to make them as economically as possible. This move to fewer UN packaging specifications may, in part, help explain some of the variation in test reports. A manufacturer has access to more drums and more control over the sample selection process as indicated earlier. There is variation in production processes and when the performance expectation is set high, minor variations in production process may result in marginal performance. This is especially true when one considers the other factors discussed above. In any case, the performance of US produced UN packagings is, in practice, extremely high with minimal reports of hazardous materials incidents covering many thousands of shipments annually.