Safety Obligations of Carrier in Carriage if Dangerous Goods

Carriage of dangerous goods, in comparison to transportation of other goods, does not follow independence rules. This fact is increasing probability of damage imposition to unknown persons and environment, without none or incomplete remedies. On the other hand in detriment assessment and its measures, less consideration has been devoted to the type of goods. In this paper the safety obligation of carrier and other related persons in carriage of Hazard goods is discussed. The analyses of subject has been completed by a comparative study in the law of Iran and other countries who specifically regarded the issue of Safety Obligation in Carriage of Dangerous Goods. From the laws point of view, there are some theories about the nature of liability such as fault, risk and absolute liability. In safety obligation of carrier, it seems that a better theory that assured third persons rights is “Strict Liability”. This theory means that a carrier of hazardous goods has liability in ever and proving justification factors such as force major does not exempt for liability. From this point of view dangerous goods liability has been compared to nuclear materials and wastes transportation. This is correct because the objectives of law is almost the same and the similarity of these goods in danger and risk of involvement of many neutral persons in detriments of accident like explosion, fire, corrosive and etc. Albeit the conventions and national statutes on liability for nuclear damages have not been analysis separately due to the fact that it requires a separate study and includes almost a different regime than hazardous goods. Unfortunately, unlike nuclear materials, there is no universal convention in different legal aspects of transportation of hazardous goods. Accordingly the unrivaled thought of establishment a perspicuous regime for strict liability, insurance coverage and preparing a bill of precaution measure for transportation and maintenance of dangerous goods is very necessary. After a short discussion on the definition and various types of dangerous goods, all of these ideas have remarked in this paper with a comparative study about safety obligation of carrier in transportation of dangerous goods.