Some of the items you pack in your baggage may be considered dangerous goods, also known as hazardous material. Dangerous goods are items or substances that are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment when you transport them by air.

Carriage of dangerous goods that are forbidden poses a risk to the safety of a flight. Passengers are forbidden from travelling with items such as fireworks, flammable household liquids, corrosive oven or drain cleaners, flammable gas or liquid lighter refills, matches, ammunition, bleach, aerosols, etc. in their baggage. As a passenger travelling on a flight, you must know what you can pack in your checked or carry-on baggage.

Table 2.3.A of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) summarizes the information for items of dangerous goods that may be carried in checked and/or carry-on baggage.  Click on the link below (yellow tab) for this information.  Passengers should also check with their airline for any up to date provisions.

An air operator or the operator’s handling agent and the airport operator must ensure that information on the types of dangerous goods which passengers are forbidden to transport aboard an aircraft is communicated effectively to them.  The information provided should include pictorial images that represent common items of dangerous goods that are forbidden in passenger baggage.  Methods of providing this information to passengers include:

1. Notices prominently displayed, in sufficient number so that passengers will see them;
2. Where tickets and boarding passes are issued;
3. Where passenger baggage is dropped off;
4. At any other location where passengers are issued boarding passes and/or checked baggage is accepted;
5. Self-service check-in kiosks where the passenger has to indicate that they have understood the restrictions on dangerous goods in baggage;
6. Electronic displays with sufficient screen time to be effective; and
7. Where aircraft boarding areas are maintained