The instructions in writing as mandated by ADR 5.4.3 are intended to provide advice to the driver and vehicle crew in the event of an accident or an emergency.
The instructions in writing must be present on the vehicle (known in ADR as a transport unit) in accordance with ADR 8.1.2.1 (b).
They should be printed in colour, be up to date and be in a language or languages understood by all members of the vehicle crew, not just the driver.
It is the responsibility of the carrier to ensure that each member of the vehicle crew can understand the instructions in writing and carry out the instructions properly, if required to do so.
Similarly, it is the responsibility of each member of the vehicle crew to familiarise themselves with the goods they are carrying and what actions they are to take in an emergency, prior to the commencement of the journey.
The instructions in writing are not required for vehicles transporting dangerous goods below the quantity thresholds detailed at ADR 1.1.3.6 (e.g. smaller packaged loads where orange plates are not displayed).
They can be found on the UNECE Website here: https://unece.org/linguistic-versions-adr-instructions-writing and at the time of writing (August 2022) it is the 2017 version that is still the most up to date version of the instructions in writing.
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