What Is the Hazmat Table?

The Hazmat Table (49 CFR §172.101) is the federal list that tells shippers how to classify, package, and label a hazardous material for transport. Here's how it works.

The short version

If you've ever heard someone in shipping or EHS say "check the Hazmat Table" or "look it up in 172.101," they're talking about the same thing: a single, massive table published by the U.S. Department of Transportation that classifies almost every hazardous material that can legally move by air, rail, road, or water in the United States.

It lives in the Code of Federal Regulations at 49 CFR §172.101, inside Part 172 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). It's not optional reading — if you're shipping something hazardous, this table (and the sections it points to) is where the actual legal requirements come from.

What's actually in it

The table has ten numbered columns, and each one answers a specific question a shipper needs answered before a package leaves the building:

• Column 1 — Symbols. A small set of letters (A, D, G, I, W) and a plus sign that modify how the rest of the row applies — for example, "A" means the material is only regulated when it's going by aircraft.
• Column 2 — Proper shipping name. The exact, legally required name for the material on shipping papers and package labels. This isn't always the common name — for instance, "gasoline" ships as "Gasoline" but many everyday chemicals ship under a formal technical name.
• Column 3 — Hazard class or division. One of nine hazard classes (explosives, gases, flammable liquids, and so on), or the word "Forbidden" if the material can't be shipped at all.
• Column 4 — Identification number. The UN or NA number — the four-digit code you see stenciled on tankers and printed on placards.
• Column 5 — Packing group. A Roman numeral (I, II, or III) indicating how dangerous the material is within its hazard class, which drives how sturdy the packaging has to be.
• Column 6 — Label codes. Which diamond-shaped hazard labels have to go on the package.
• Column 7 — Special provisions. Numbered codes that point to extra requirements in §172.102 — exceptions, additional marking rules, or restrictions specific to that material.
• Column 8 — Packaging. Three sub-columns citing the exact sections of 49 CFR Part 173 that cover exceptions, non-bulk packaging, and bulk packaging for that material.
• Column 9 — Quantity limitations. How much of the material is allowed on a passenger aircraft or passenger rail car, and separately, how much on a cargo-only aircraft.
• Column 10 — Vessel stowage. Where the material has to be stowed on a ship, and any additional stowage requirements.

Why it's organized this way

The Hazmat Table exists because hazardous materials transportation in the U.S. touches four different modes — highway, rail, air, and vessel — each with its own historical rules and international agreements layered on top (ICAO for air, IMO/IMDG for ocean). Rather than maintain four separate rulebooks, DOT consolidated the classification decision into one table and lets each mode's specific requirements branch off from it. That's why a single row can tell you "forbidden on a plane, fine on a truck" — the columns encode exactly where the restrictions diverge.

How people actually use it

In practice, nobody sits down and reads this table front to back. The normal workflow looks like this:

1. Identify the material's proper shipping name (or the closest generic/N.O.S. entry if there isn't an exact match).
2. Find that row in the table.
3. Read off the hazard class, UN number, and packing group — this becomes the required shipping description.
4. Check the special provisions column for anything that changes the default rules.
5. Check the packaging columns to confirm what container type is authorized.
6. Check the quantity/stowage columns if the shipment is going by air or vessel.

Miss a step — especially the special provisions column — and it's easy to end up with a technically-correct-looking shipping paper that's still non-compliant.

Hazmat Table vs. the Reportable Quantity list — don't mix these up

This is the single most common point of confusion, including on this site: the Hazmat Table (§172.101) and the Reportable Quantity list (Appendix A to §172.101) are two different tools answering two different questions.

The Hazmat Table answers: "How do I classify and ship this?" The RQ list answers a narrower question: "How much of this can I spill before I'm legally required to report it?" A material can appear on one list, the other, both, or neither. See our RQ vs. hazard class comparison for the full breakdown.

Where to actually look one up

You can read the official table directly on eCFR.gov, which is the government's continuously-updated version of the CFR. Or use the search on this site, which pulls the same underlying data and lays out each entry's classification without you having to parse the raw regulatory table format.

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