IEC 60721-3-2:2018
(Main)Classification of environmental conditions - Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their severities - Transportation and Handling
Classification of environmental conditions - Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their severities - Transportation and Handling
IEC 60721-3-2:2018 classifies the groups of environmental parameters and their severities to which a product is subjected while being transported and handled. The most commonly used methods of transportation and handling have been taken into account, including the following:
- road transport: cars, trucks;
- rail transport: trains, trams;
- water transport, inland and maritime: ships;
- air transport: aircraft, jet, propeller, helicopter;
- handling equipment: cranes, transport lifts, cableways, persons;
- conveyors;
- hand trollies.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition, published in 1997, and constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a. Clause 1: reworded and added handling.
b. Clause 2: updated normative references.
c. Clause 3: updated definitions.
d. Clause 4: reworded and simplified.
e. Clause 5: revised and updated. Several classes have been replaced by completely new classes based on the use of new information obtained from referenced Technical Reports.
f. Table 1 through Table 5: updated.
g. Table 6 added.
h. Old annexes A to C removed except Clause A.3 that is incorporated in Clause 5.
i. New Annex A.
The contents of the corrigenda of November 2018, June 2022 and May 2024 have been included in this copy.
Classification des conditions d'envrironnement - Partie 3-2: Classification des groupements des agents d’environnement et de leurs sévérités - Transport et manutention
L’IEC 60721-3-2:2018 classifie les groupements d’agents d’environnement et de leurs sévérités auxquelles un produit est soumis lors de son transport et de sa manutention. Il a été tenu compte des moyens de transport les plus couramment employés, y compris les moyens suivants:
- transports routiers: voitures, camions;
- transports ferroviaires: trains, tramways;
- transport par voies navigables, fluviales et maritimes: navires;
- transports aériens: avions (à propulsion, à hélice), hélicoptères;
- matériel de manutention: grues, monte-charges, téléphériques, personnes;
- courroies transporteuses;
- chariots manuels.
Cette troisième édition annule et remplace la deuxième édition, parue en 1997. Elle constitue une révision technique. Cette édition inclut les modifications techniques majeures suivantes par rapport à l’édition précédente:
a. Article 1: reformulation et ajout de la manutention.
b. Article 2: mise à jour des références normatives.
c. Article 3: mise à jour des définitions.
d. Article 4: reformulé et simplifié.
e. Article 5: révisé et mis à jour. Plusieurs catégories ont été remplacées par des catégories complètement nouvelles sur la base de nouvelles informations obtenues à partir des rapports techniques référencés.
f. Tableau 1 au Tableau 5: mise à jour.
g. Tableau 6 ajouté.
h. Suppression des anciennes annexes A à C à l’exception de l’Article A.3 qui est intégré dans l’Article 5.
i. Nouvelle Annexe A.
Le contenu des corrigendum de novembre 2018, juin 2022 et mai 2024 a été pris en considération dans cet exemplaire.
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IEC 60721-3-2 ®
Edition 3.0 2018-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
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Classification of environmental conditions –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their
severities – Transportation and handling
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
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About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
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IEC 60721-3-2 ®
Edition 3.0 2018-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Classification of environmental conditions –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their
severities – Transportation and handling
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 19.040 ISBN 978-2-8322-5321-2
– 2 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 RLV © IEC 2018
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope and object . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 General . 6
5 Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their severities . 6
5.1 General . 7
5.2 K Climatic conditions . 8
5.3 B Biological conditions . 11
5.4 C Chemically active substances . 11
5.5 S Mechanically active substances . 13
5.6 M Mechanical conditions . 14
6 Sets of environmental condition class combinations .
Annex A Survey of conditions affecting the choice of environmental parameters and
their severities .
Annex B Summary of conditions covered by the sets of class combinations .
Annex C Explanation of the environmental conditions in tropical areas as specified
in classes 2K6 and 2K7.
Annex A (informative) Chemically active substances . 33
Bibliography . 34
Figure – Model shock response spectra (first order maximax shock response spectra) .
Figure 1 – Consolidation of vibration conditions . 16
Figure 2 – Consolidation of mechanical conditions . 17
Table – Sets of environmental condition class combinations .
Table 1 – Classification of climatic conditions . 9
Table 2 – Classification of biological conditions . 11
Table 3 – Classification of chemically active substances . 12
Table 4 − Classification of mechanically active substances . 13
Table 5 – Classification of mechanical conditions . 14
– 3 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 RLV © IEC 2018
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters
and their severities –
Transportation and handling
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes
made to the previous edition. A vertical bar appears in the margin wherever a change
has been made. Additions are in green text, deletions are in strikethrough red text.
– 4 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 RLV © IEC 2018
International Standard IEC 60721-3-2 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 104:
Environmental conditions, classification, and methods of test.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition, published in 1997, and constitutes
a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) Clause 1: reworded and added handling.
b) Clause 2: updated normative references.
c) Clause 3: updated definitions.
d) Clause 4: reworded and simplified.
e) Clause 5: revised and updated. Several classes have been replaced by completely new
classes based on the use of new information obtained from referenced Technical Reports.
f) Table 1 through Table 5: updated.
g) Table 6 deleted.
h) Old annexes A to C removed except Clause A.3 that is incorporated in Clause 0.
i) New Annex A.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
104/773/FDIS 104/783/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts in the IEC 60721 series, published under the general title Classification of
environmental conditions, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct
understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a
colour printer.
The contents of the corrigenda 1 (2018-11), 2 (2022-06) and 3 (2024-05) have been included in
this copy.
– 5 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 RLV © IEC 2018
CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters
and their severities –
Transportation and handling
1 Scope and object
This part of IEC 60721 classifies the groups of environmental parameters and their severities
to which a product is subjected while being transported from one place to another after being
made ready for dispatch from the manufacturing factory and handled.
The most commonly used methods of transportation and handling have been taken into
account, including the following:
– road transport: cars, lorries, trucks, animals, conveyors;
– rail transport: trains, trams, conveyors;
– water transport, inland and maritime: ships, hovercraft, conveyors;
– air transport: aircraft, conveyors, jet, propeller, helicopter;
– vertical transport handling equipment: cranes, transport lifts, cableways, persons;
– conveyors;
– hand trollies.
The environmental conditions specified in this document are those met by the product being
transported that the product can be exposed to while transported and handled. If the product
is packaged, the environmental conditions apply to the package containing the product. Only
severe conditions, which may be harmful to products, are included. If the product is
unpackaged, the environmental conditions apply to the product.
Conditions for storage are given in IEC 60721-3-1.
The object of this standard is to classify groups of environmental parameters and their
severities to which a product will be exposed when being transported on ground, water and in
air, including loading and unloading.
A limited number of classes of environmental conditions are given, coveri
...
IEC 60721-3-2 ®
Edition 3.0 2018-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Classification of environmental conditions –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their
severities – Transportation and handling
Classification des conditions d’environnement –
Partie 3-2: Classification des groupements des agents d’environnement et de
leurs sévérités – Transport et manutention
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
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les coordonnées ci-après ou contactez le Comité national de l'IEC de votre pays de résidence.
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Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigenda or an amendment might have been published.
IEC Catalogue - webstore.iec.ch/catalogue Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The stand-alone application for consulting the entire The world's leading online dictionary of electronic and
bibliographical information on IEC International Standards, electrical terms containing 21 000 terms and definitions in
Technical Specifications, Technical Reports and other English and French, with equivalent terms in 16 additional
documents. Available for PC, Mac OS, Android Tablets and languages. Also known as the International Electrotechnical
iPad. Vocabulary (IEV) online.
IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform IEC Glossary - std.iec.ch/glossary
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a 67 000 electrotechnical terminology entries in English and
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical French extracted from the Terms and Definitions clause of
committee,…). It also gives information on projects, replaced IEC publications issued since 2002. Some entries have been
and withdrawn publications. collected from earlier publications of IEC TC 37, 77, 86 and
CISPR.
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IEC 60721-3-2 ®
Edition 3.0 2018-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Classification of environmental conditions –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their
severities – Transportation and handling
Classification des conditions d’environnement –
Partie 3-2: Classification des groupements des agents d’environnement et de
leurs sévérités – Transport et manutention
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 19.040 ISBN 978-2-8322-5374-8
– 2 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 © IEC 2018
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope and object . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions. 5
4 General . 6
5 Classification of groups of environmental parameters and their severities . 7
5.1 General . 7
5.2 K Climatic conditions . 7
5.3 B Biological conditions . 9
5.4 C Chemically active substances . 9
5.5 S Mechanically active substances . 10
5.6 M Mechanical conditions . 11
Annex A (informative) Chemically active substances . 15
Bibliography . 16
Figure 1 – Consolidation of vibration conditions . 13
Figure 2 – Consolidation of mechanical conditions . 14
Table 1 – Classification of climatic conditions . 8
Table 2 – Classification of biological conditions . 9
Table 3 – Classification of chemically active substances . 10
Table 4 − Classification of mechanically active substances . 11
Table 5 – Classification of mechanical conditions . 11
– 3 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 © IEC 2018
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS –
Part 3-2: Classification of groups of environmental parameters
and their severities –
Transportation and handling
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60721-3-2 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 104:
Environmental conditions, classification, and methods of test.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition, published in 1997, and constitutes a
technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) Clause 1: reworded and added handling.
b) Clause 2: updated normative references.
c) Clause 3: updated definitions.
d) Clause 4: reworded and simplified.
– 4 – IEC 60721-3-2:2018 © IEC 2018
e) Clause 5: revised and updated. Several classes have been replaced by completely new
classes based on the use of new information obtained from referenced Technical Reports.
f) Table 1 through Table 5: updated.
g) Table 6 deleted.
h) Old annexes A to C removed except Clause A.3 that is incorporated in Clause 5.
i) New Annex A.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
104/773/FDIS 104/783/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts in the IEC 60721 series, published under the general title Classification of
environmental conditions, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific document. At this date, the document will be
reconfirmed,
withd
...
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