Sudden Demand

Sometimes you just can’t plan for the sudden demand of your product. When a customer needs your product immediately, using expedited shipping can allow you to get it there quickly, often within 24 hours, so that your customer can then make use of the product.

Sensitive Freight

Sometimes the freight being shipped is sensitive in nature, either because of time constraints on it, because it is perishable, or because of it’s hazardous nature. These types of freight often make use of expedited shipping so that they are not on the road any longer than necessary.

No matter the reason, expedited shipping is an increasingly popular way for shippers to get their products to their customers as quickly as possible.

Carriers that work with government agencies are approved by that agency, such as the DOD, to transport on their behalf, with each agency having their own standard for approval. Whether it’s transporting electronics to a new office or sensitive materials for proper disposal, government shipping contracts are just one more piece of the shipping industry pie.

High security transportation services in real life are really more about being aware of surroundings and taking steps to avoid potentially hazardous situations than having an army of armed men protecting a single vehicle. In fact, about the only situation where a single vehicle is being protected by an army of armed men is political figures like the President of the United States.

While it might be entertaining to think of a truck carrying sensitive materials racing down the road surrounded by armed me with a helicopter overhead keeping watch, in reality it’s usually just a truck that’s indistinguishable from any other with a driver that’s had special training for these situations. Not quite as dramatic, but much more realistic.

Then

Then is a general term, but mostly means anything before 1980. At that time, the threats that seemed to drive people into wearing face-masks in real life and hazmat suits on screen were radioactive in nature, with nuclear weapons being a popular hazardous threat. Part of this is due to both the end of World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis being fairly fresh in the minds of enough people to make them credible threats.

Now

The threats we see now haven’t so much changed as grown. While nuclear weapons and radiation are still prevalent both in the real world and in Hollywood, it’s been joined by other threats. Biological and chemical threats are the most recent additions to the list of hazards that are in the forefront of peoples minds, with Anthrax, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu all being real threats that have caused panic.

Environmental concerns are also a new addition to the list that could result in the need for hazmat suits. While smog and air pollution were real issues 20 years ago, natural disasters and the fallout they cause is as real as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The Future

It’s impossible to predict what the future of hazardous material threats will be, but it’s probably fair to assume that it will be some combination of those that have already come and gone. Only time will tell.

When we first started seeing explosions in old black & white films dynamite was pretty much the only option that the bad guys used. As the only commercial explosive readily available, it made sense to use that instead of having the guy tying the damsel to the train tracks break out something that only the military had access to.

As we moved forward to more military inspired movies and bad guys, grenades became a common explosive device, often being tossed in and out of rooms for comedic effect, though the “real” threat of the explosion was always there. While the power of these devices was typically exaggerated, the threat to life and limb wasn’t.

Until recently nuclear weapons had become the explosive threat flavor of the month, but with the current political and military climate, they seem to have fallen out of favor, perhaps because the threat of nuclear weapons is more real than ever before.

Plastic explosives, C-4 in particular, on the other hand, seem to have grown in popularity by leaps and bounds. While typically relegated to military use, by watching movies and TV (Burn Notice in particular leaps to mind), you’d think that it’s easy to find a block of the stuff just laying on the ground.

They have, however, done a good job of showing off just how “safe” and dangerous the materials are, with the explosives often being used in their intended manner, by being shaped into charges that a stick of dynamite or a grenade can’t.

As explosives technology moves forward, it will be interesting to see which new types find their way into fiction, as the bad guys on screen are always looking for the newest thing to take out a city block with.

We all remember the men in hazmat suits from the movie E.T. and the sinister feeling we got due to their anonymity, but films like Outbreak have used the hazmat suit, or rather it failing, to show how deadly a biological agent is by having the person in the suit die quickly despite their use of the suit to prevent just such an occurence.

Video games also have a history with hazmat suits, using them both as a way to protect the player and as a way to make antagonists scarier. Games like Doom, Half-Life, and Deux Ex all incorporate the hazmat suit in a variety of ways, both as a way to safe the player, and as a way to increase the creepiness of enemies.

For good or ill, hazmat suits in fiction are likely around to stay as they serve a variety of functions both visually and practically.

Biohazard

Chemical Weapon, in reference to a WMD

High Voltage/Electrocution Hazard

If you've ever had an x-ray taken you've seen the radiation symbol

At least one item under your kitchen sink has the Toxic symbol on it.

There are dozens of other symbols used to show a hazardous material, some specific to individual countries.

Hazmat shipping training includes security awareness and in-depth training, safety training, and familiarization with the materials. This training has to be repeated once every three years to stay up to date on the certification.

While it’s true that biological and radioactive items qualify as hazardous, other things such as weapons, ammunition, and explosives also qualify given their dangerous nature. Transporting these items requires special training and certifications to ensure that the cargo is treated carefully and with the respect that it deserves.

Also included in the hazmat field are flammable liquids, gases, corrosives, and anything that is considered combustible or flammable. Not all of these things are “bad”, as items like oxygen are qualified as hazardous given that it is flammable, but either way they require special consideration when moving them from one location to another.