orange square

[L&L]

can anyone tell me what the orange square is for on a lorry I often see them on the lorry and wondered what they are for

[SaxyJag]

Do you mean the diamond on the back? It's to indicate the nature of any hazardous substances that may be on board.

[L&L]

no not a diamond shape more of an oblong shape rather than a square sometimes there is a marking of some kind but definately not a diamond

[SaxyJag]

Here's hubby (ex trucker) on the subject:

Hi, It denotes that the vehicle is carrying hazardous substances in smaller containers, usually totalling more than 500kgs, it could be (dependant on the hazard ) in small (less than 5litre) or large, up to 1000kg containers.

The driver will carry full details of what is on board, they wanted to get away from the hazard diamonds, which could give people cause for concern ie:radioactive, explosive etc.....

[kempie]

You can view Hazchem panels here.

[kempie]

... I should have used this link to give a clearer view & explanation.

[sddsddean]

Kempies link to hazchem panels only applies to tankers. The orange oblong denotes, as said by SaxyJag, that the vehicle is carrying hazardous materials. Tremcards (TRansport EMergecncy) are carried by the driver and must be in the language of all the countries the vehicle will pass through, so when I used to go to Austria I had to have English, French, Dutch and German. The rules can be quite weird. (I'm talking about 8 years ago, they may have changed). they used to only affect petrol carried in containers of 5 litres or more, with a threshold of 100 litres. So you could have a comnplete artic load of 4 litre cans and it would not have come under the ADR(something in French for hazardous transport!) regulations. Good old bureaucracy!