One of the conundrums of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations (TDG) is the requirement to have an ERAP for a UN number that is not listed in Schedule 1 of TDG.

The problem we run into is that Schedule 1 is only up to the 11th Edition of the UN Recommendations on the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods (model regulations). In section 1.3.1, item 39 in the table of standards indicates that TDG is at the 14th Edition of the model regulations. But since the 13th Edition of the model regulations, the UN has issued over 130 new classifications.

But section 1.10 of TDG states:

A person may use the appropriate classification set out in the ICAO Technical Instructions, the IMDG Code or the UN Recommendations to transport dangerous goods within Canada by a road vehicle, a railway vehicle or a ship on a domestic voyage if these Regulations or the document from which the classification is taken does not forbid their transport.

This means that if the consignor cannot find a classification in TDG, then the consignor can use a classification from the model regulations, ICAO Technical Instructions (TIs) or the IMDG Code. And this is where the conundrum lies. TDG section 7.1(12) states:

Any substance that would require an ERAP if its classification were determined in accordance with Part 2, Classification, requires an approved ERAP if its classification from the ICAO Technical Instructions, the IMDG Code or the UN Recommendations is used as permitted under section 1.10 of Part 1, Coming Into Force, Repeal, Interpretation, General Provisions and Special Cases.

For example, as the consignor, you have an IBC (1,500 L) of sodium cyanide solution, UN3414 to ship. As UN3414 is not listed in TDG, you go to the model regulations for the classification. But the model regulations don’t have an ERAP index, so how do you determine if an ERAP is required? Or, you have 2 x 20 L drums of iodine, UN3495, to be shipped and you use the TIs for your classification. The TIs don’t have an ERAP index, so how do you determine if an ERAP is required?

To determine if an ERAP is required for your shipment where the classification is not in TDG, go to: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/tdg/clear-newerapnumbers-87.htm and scroll to the table at the bottom of the page to see if your product is listed and what the ERAP index is. Please bear in mind that all the requirements of Part 7 apply to the numbers listed in this table.

At the United Nations, the Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG) have unanimously granted observer status to the Dangerous Goods Trainers Association (DGTA).

This means, that as a non-governmental agency (NGO), DGTA will be able to contribute and comment on proposals and changes to the model regulations. Members of DGTA will be able to share their vast wealth of knowledge and experience with this regulatory body.

Dr. Bob Richard (Labelmaster) was insturmental in writing up the application and presenting at the UN. The chair of DGTA, Leif Soderman (Optimal Assistans Sweden), will be representing DGTA at the TDG meetings.

For more information on the DGTA, please go to www.dgta.org

So, what’s going to be coming in TDG in the next year?

Well, let’s start with an Equivalency Certificate for limited quantities.  Members of the Canadian Paint and Coatings Association have an Equivalency Certificate (http://www.tc.gc.ca/tdg/permits/htm/10832-eng.htm) for the use of the new limited quantity mark. If Transport Canada is not going to have this in a very near future amendment, then why don’t they issue the Equivalency Certificate to all shippers?

Amendments 8, 9 & 10 have come into force this year. Amendment 11 was sent to the Minister on October 20 and it deals with correcting errors in Amendment 6. The next step for Amendment 11 is a consultation phase.

Amendment 12, which was reviewed last June, is a large amendment with emphasis on placarding and introduces the overpack. The comment review was completed in June and it may go direct to Gazette II.

Amendment 13 will deal with the standards and Part 5 Means of Containment. This proposal has been at Justice since June and its next stop should be Gazette I.

Amendment Q will be an update of Schedule 1 and 2. Amendment 12 was to take us to the 17th Edition of the UN Recommendations on the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods, so why would a separate amendment be needed for the Schedules? Interesting that Schedule 3 is not listed in this proposal – typo? The next step for this amendment is consultations.

The Surface Inter-modal Security (SIMS) directorate is still in the policy development phase. They have indicated a combined use of voluntary practices and regulations that will be phased in over a reasonable time period. In addition, harmonization with the US will be key, but there will be some unique Canadian situations.

The one thing we do not have are target dates for each of the above.

The Auditor General will be releasing his findings on December 13th on the ERAP programme.

I am beginning to feel like Peter Mackay of Hazardous Cargo Bulletin (HCB) – doing this in two parts. Cheers Peter!

The Thursday session continued with Richard Bornhorst, USCG, on Amendment 35 of the IMDG Code. This amendment is at the 16th Edition of the UN model regulations, but does not include the revised EHS/GHS criteria. Some of the new issues with this Amendment are:

• the new limited quantity mark
• new Chapter 5.5 on fumigated containers, including a fumigation certificate
• UN3166 Engines, has two new special provisions 961 & 962
• new TIH n.o.s. entries UN3488 – 3494, such as sour crude oil
• training record retention
• monitoring equipment as part of a CTU does not need to be declared

Some proposals for Amendment 36 are:

• revised EHS/GHS criteria
• adopt the 17th Edition of the UN model regulations
• revision of Chapter 7 – simplified stowage and packing requirements for Class 1 based on vessel type
• books to be published every 4 years with amendments every two years
• new illustrations
• new guidelines for packing CTUs
• revised circular on CTU inspections that contain dangerous goods; 56,000 CTU inspected worldwide in last year with 51,000 in the US alone

Bob Richard then continued the presentation on:

• DSC 16 (Sub-committee on dangerous goods, solid cargoes and containers) on fibre bulk containers (FBCs) – these will be restricted to a stacking height of 3, and restricted on long distance roll on, roll off (RoRo)
• batteries tested prior to 2014.01.01 will be grandfathered
• there were papers that were presented by Belgium, China, Korea and DGAC that were rejected:
• China proposed a limited quantity for alcohol
• Korea: 1) prohibit metal packaging for Li batteries, 2) separate wet batteries from Class 3, 3) allow the use of the UN number on limited quantity packages, 4) the overpack marking should be a minimum of 65 mm in height
• DGAC: wanted specific packaging and storage rules for Class 4.3
• all the above were rejected as these proposals should be presented to the UN not the IMO

Dave Evans (Purolator Canada) and Duane Pfund (PHMSA) brought us up to date with the changes in Canada. Amendment 8 is still at Justice. Linda Hume is off on medical leave and will retire in February 2012. Transport Canada has met with PHMSA recently and both signed a memorandum of understanding regarding compressed cylinders. Both parties have agreed to circulate proposed changes with each other.

Geoff Leach returned to go over the top 5 feedback points regarding training programmes. His first question was “what is feedback?”.   Feed back is: Knowledge of the results of any behavior, considered as influencing or modifying further performance.

1. if you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know which route to take? you need objectives
2. talking vs asking: why ask? a) to test understanding & acceptance, b) to stop switching off, c) stop participants from being passive
3. why are we here? be specific – illustrate by using an example, i.e. ValueJet
4. reading vs teaching
5. visual aids – Geoff did an exercise of reading a list of items vs showing a list of pictograms

Chris Egloff, Americase, did a presentation of shipping oxygen cylinders or generators by air. This only applies to the US, but also applies to shipments leaving the US, entering the US, intra US or US flagged aircraft. FedEx requires the use of the ATA300 package. One issue of note is the number of cylinders per case. The regulations do not say you can or can’t have multiple cylinders in a package. The shipper would need to refer to the manufacturer for clarification. Boeing 787s do not have oxygen generators on board, rather, the aircraft has a 10k cylinder in the cabin. A 10k cylinder is a 10,000 psi cylinder.

Gene Sanders lead a session on classification questions – how not to write them. He talked about wisdom vs experiences and introduced Emily.

• M – measured
• L – learning
• E – exercise
• M-L-E

Gene does not say that the course will end with a test, quiz or exam, but says that Emily (MLE) will show up at the end of the session.

At the end of the day’s sessions, Geoff Leach was the honorary Duckmaster at the Peabody, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YNrCvBqDPo to see Geoff in action.

On Friday morning, Duane Pfund presented Bob Richard with a PHMSA inspection shield for his years of service at PHMSA. We were also regaled with some stories about Bob.

Three inspectors from PHMSA told us that inspections are random subject to a priority list. The regulations pertain to shippers, carriers, freight forwarders, 3rd party labs, SP holders, fillers and shippers of aerosols, cylinder re-qualifiers, nurse tanks, package manufacturers and high hazard entities (TIH). The biggest question is “why me?”. The inspectors show up if there has been a complaint, if the party is high risk (TIH), ongoing investigations, observations or there has been an incident history. Inspectors will observe the various processes, use of test equipment, training, records, closure instructions, shipping papers and MSDSs.

Some consistent problems encountered: no training records, failure to train, package closures, improper marks and labels, incorrect shipping papers, failure to register with PHMSA, and lack of security plans. Stats for 2010: 1,650 inspections, 42% OK – no further action required; 57% non-compliant and 1% waiting for test results.

Donna Lepik (CHEMTRC/TRANSCAER), David Binder (Tanner Industries) and Bill Burke (Dupont) did “Soup to Nutz”. This presentation dealt with the development of the TRANSCAER anhydrous ammonia training programme. To view this programme, go to http://www.transcaer.com/aa-tour. If you work with anhydrous ammonia, there is a wealth of information here.

For dangerous goods trainers, this is the symposium that you need to attend.

I attended the sixth Dangerous Goods Instructor Symposium (DGIS VI) hosted by LabelMaster in Memphis TN last week.
Things started on Tuesday evening with the Dangerous Goods Trainers Association (DGTA) meeting. The changes concerning NESHTA, BCSP, IHMM and others were discussed. Bob Richard has suggested the DGTA make application at the UN for consultative status. This would allow DGTA to attend the UNSCOE on TDG as observers or as a NGO (non-governmental organization). The website has been updated, see www.dtga.org/. There was also discussion on which trade shows that DGTA should attend.

Later that night some of us boarded buses to go the the FedEx world hub. Here we were given a tour of the FedEx Memphis Hub (night-side) facilities.

Some interesting points of interest:

• handles approx. 1.3 million packages daily
• averages 140 landings per night (every 90 seconds)
• averages 140 takeoffs per night
• aircraft unloaded in under 30 minutes
• fleet of more than 366 aircraft (727s to A300s to 777)
• 7,000 employees at the hub
• covers 863 acres
• approx. 42 miles (68 km) of conveyor belts

Thanks to David Jones of FedEx for arranging the tour.

The Wednesday morning session on the ABCs of Training Objectives. This workshop covered the basics in making brief, concise, clear learning objectives. After lunch, Howard Skolnik of Skolnik Industries did a hands-on session on Writing of packing and closure instructions: an exercise in authorship. Howard gave each table an exercise on writing an instruction for a simple every day function. Our table were to write a procedure for tying shoelaces. Another table got the wine bottle with corkscrew (the bottle was empty), another on how to fold a fitted sheet, and another on how to blow up a balloon. You can imagine the fun that was created with this exercise! Howard then made available different packaging examples to each table and we had to write the closure instructions. This was a great exercise, we just did not have enough time to complete the exercises. The last session dealt with our Pet Peeves in the regulations. Some examples that came up were:

• why does ICAO require 2 technical names and IATA does not?
• 49 CFR: is it basic description or shipping description or description when it comes to describing the dangerous goods that are to be shipped?
• are closure instructions necessary for compressed gas cylinders?
• IMDG: when listing several paints with different flash points, which flash point gets listed on the shipping document?
• ICAO A69: forces the shipper to recognize mercury as dangerous goods

Thursday began with an ICAO update from Geoff Leach, chair of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel. Over 100 papers have been submitted and each one has to be reviewed during the 8 days that have been scheduled for the 2013/2014 Technical Instructions session. Some of the issues that have been brought forward:

• when it says “not subject to the Technical Instructions”, what does this really mean?
• recurrent training going to calendar date
• oxygen generators – the ValueJet crash needs to be kept in everyone’s mind; recent incident in Australia with these
• EHS (environmentally hazardous substance): ICAO was too quick off the mark to align with the UN when other modes had not, going back to the 15th Edition to allow for transition
• gross mass will only apply to LQ, definition of net mass means the article not the dangerous goods in it
• class 6.1 subsidiary for mercury will be optional unless the content is > 5 kg
• dangerous goods in crew baggage is not addressed, it will be the same as for passengers
• undeclared vs misdeclared: undeclared means that there is no shipper’s declaration, mis-declared means it is not what it is

ICAO proposals:

• how to deal with Ebay, i.e. large lighter with 3 Li batteries flashlight in the handle
• training for the load-master and security staff
• reporting of dangerous goods that have not been loaded properly
• changes to the NOTOC to simplify the form
• Li batteries: remove section II, package according to the TIs
• dangerous goods in helicopters
• maximum spare batteries for passengers/crew is 2; this poses problems for those who have to use a nebulizer, etc.