Under 49 CFR, a number of regulatory changes will become mandatory on October 1st, 2010. Three of the changes include:

• Preparation of shipping papers/Emergency response telephone number
  The shipping paper must contain an emergency response telephone number and, if utilizing an emergency response information telephone number service provider, identify the person (by name or contract number) who has a contractual agreement with the service provider.
• Packing instructions(written notification)
  Shipper’s must retain a copy of the written notification for at least 365 days from the date of issuance and have copies available for representatives of the DOT.
• Security plans (if required)
  Security plans must include the identity by job title the senior management official responsible for overall development and implementation of the security plan, security duties for each position and a plan for training hazmat employees. The security plan must be available upon request to the DOT or Department of Homeland Security.

The US DOT is cracking down on commercial drivers texting while driving. Two agencies under the DOT had dockets posted in the federal register today. These dockets will add a federal regulation to the growing list of state regulations that already prohibit texting while driving for drivers of all types of motor vehicles.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule which prohibits texting while driving by commercial motor vehicle drivers while operating in interstate commerce. The rulemaking goes into effect on October 27, 2010.

Since the FMCSR rulemaking only appliers to motor carriers and drivers that operate in interstate commerce, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a proposed rule today. The proposed rulemaking would further prohibit motor carriers and drivers that transport quantities of hazardous materials that require placards or any quantity of select agents or toxins from texting while driving in intrastate commerce. Comments on this proposed rule will be accepted by PHMSA until October 27, 2010.

Both of these rulemakings are aimed at increasing safety on the nation’s highways by reducing the number of accidents caused be distracted driving.

IATA has published the list of significant changes to the 52nd Edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.

Here are some of the changes:

Under Section 1.3, Shipper’s Responsibilities, there is a mandatory requirement to retain a copy of the Shipper’s Declaration for a minimum period of 3 months.

For dangerous goods in Limited Quantities, the provisions have been revised. A new marking has been adopted and text is no longer required on the Shipper’s Declaration.

Amendments to the List of Dangerous Goods include the adoption of new packing instruction numbers for all substances in classes 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 and dividion 6.1, new UN numbers entries and a significant number of generic and n.o.s. proper shipping names now require the addition of the technical name.

Changes to special provisons and new special provisions.

Changes to general packing requirements include new requirements for closures for inner packagings for liquids. Now requires a secondary means of maintaining the closure. In the absence of secondary means, the inner packaging(s) must be placed in a leakproof liner. Provisions for absorbent material in paragraph 5.0.12.2 and for liners in 5.0.12.3 have been deleted. When such requirements exists they have now been placed directly in the applicable packing instructions as Additional Packing Requirements.

All of the reformatted packing instructions included in Appendix H in the 51st Edition have now been incorporated into the body of the Regulations. There is a three-month transition period to allow for packages prepared for transport before December 31, 2010 using packing instructions in the 51st Edition to be presented for transport until March 31, 2011.

Last weekend I drove my daughter’s car to go to a friend’s house. When I arrived there I thought the driver’s side front tire was looking low. I took a closer look at the tire and saw that the sidewall was split in several places. So I changed the tire. Got the spare tire out and it bounced really good. Installed it on the car, lowered the car and guess what it looked like? Yep, flat. My friend had one of those plug-in lighter socket compressors—used it until it gave out on the spare tire. Checked the one I took off and it had splits on the inside sidewall as well. Drove to the nearest gas station and inflated all the tires to the recommended pressure. And to think that my daughter had driven on the 410, 407 and 401 to the Toronto Zoo and back the day before. When you realize what could have happened to her if the tire had blown at highway speed and you quickly get the heebie-jeebies.

Canadian Tire had a sale flyer out yesterday, so I bought an air compressor on the way home from work. It is a little bit bigger than what I need, but I’m looking to the future: brad nailer, impact wrench, etc.

So today I checked the tires on my car and my wife’s van (daughter away for the weekend). All tires were lower than the manufacturers’ recommended pressure. AND I checked the spares and inflated them to the recommended pressure. Now that I have the compressor in the garage, we can do weekly checks of tire inflation year-round and don’t have to worry about freeze-ups or paying for the air pump.

How dangerous are under-inflated tires? It affects the handling of your vehicle which will have an impact on any emergency moves you may need to make. It affects your stopping distance. The cost of operating the vehicle increases. The chances of hydro-planing increase. Tire wear increases. Can you afford any of these while driving your vehicle?

When was the last time you checked your tires, including the spare? DON’T rely on your oil change frequency. Your tires need to be checked a lot more than that. Air temperature has a direct impact on tires pressure, too. As the temperatures drop over the next few weeks, it is vital that your tire pressure be checked and adjusted.

There are three (3) basic rules when driving:

1. Safety
2. Safety
3. Safety

Help prevent a collision. Protect your family. Safeguard the other guy. Keep your vehicle maintained.

In this September 1st final rule, PHMSA is correcting typographical errors, incorrect CFR references and citations, inconsistent use of terminology, misstatements of certain regulatory requirements and inadvertent omissions of information.

Some of the editorial corrections include sections:

• 107.117-Correction of the Federal Motor Carrier Administration telephone contact information.
• 107.329-Corrections to the minimum civil penalty.
• 71.7-Removal of the Compressed Gas Association’s (CGA) publication from 171.7(b) and paragraph (g) (6) from 180.205.
• 172.604-(b) (1) adding the word "information" to then read, "emergency response information (ERI provider)" and clarification in (b)(2) that the person registered with the emergency response provider must be identified by name or contract number on the shipping paper.
• 172.800-To clarify security plan requirements for Division 4.3 materials.
• 177.843-Requirements for surveying for contamination on motor vehicles used to transport Class 7 radioactive materials.

As the amendments do not impose new requirements, public comment procedures are unnecessary. The changes will appear in the next revision of 49 CFR.

Read the full text of the final rule at the U.S. Government Printing Office’s website.