This week, ICC attended the 33rd Annual Conference and Exposition of the Dangerous Goods Advisory Committee (DGAC), one of the largest trade associations for organizations involved in dangerous goods. The conference, which was held in Tampa, Florida, was well attended by shippers and carriers, as well as companies providing services such as emergency response. ICC’s own Karrie Monette-Ishmael and Barbara Foster were among the exhibitors showing their latest products and services.
The program started with a keynote address from Tim Butters, the Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). He described how PHMSA was “trying to reopen lines of communication with industry,” that may have been damaged in recent years, and discussed some of their important work on safety and security.
The program itself provided many informative and challenging sessions. Workshops gave a hands-on look at such diverse topics as writing closure instructions for packaging, and compatibility issues between chemicals and packaging. Regulators from North America and Europe gave overviews of issues and upcoming changes to the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, the Hazardous Materials Regulations of 49 CFR, and other related regulations. Speakers from industry were present to give insight into topics such as classification of environmentally hazardous substances. The ever-problematic issue of lithium batteries was addressed by Bob Richard, former Deputy Administrator of PHMSA and now with Labelmaster Services.
A new feature this year (and one that was a big hit!) was a chance to “speed date the regulators”. Participants could choose representatives from various departments for short discussions in small groups about specific topics of concern.
This was the last conference for the current DGAC President, Mike Morrissette. After many years of service in the dangerous goods field, Mike is retiring. ICC wishes him a happy retirement, and thanks him for his years of untiring support for all of us in the industry. We also congratulate the incoming President, Vaughn Arthur, and look forward to working with him.
ICC is a proud supporter of DGAC, one of the best sources for companies involved with goods/hazardous materials to learn about upcoming regulations, and touch base with the people who create them. Check DGAC out at http://www.dgac.org for more information about this great organization, and consider attending next year’s conference, which will be held in Nashville, Tennessee on October 15-17, 2012.
by Jim Henry on October 14, 2011 at 8:00 am · in Jim's Blog
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.
if you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know which route to take? you need objectives
talking vs asking: why ask? a) to test understanding & acceptance, b) to stop switching off, c) stop participants from being passive
why are we here? be specific – illustrate by using an example, i.e. ValueJet
reading vs teaching
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.
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.
On September 13, 2011, PHMSA published the current 180-day special permit application list in the Federal Register. Under 49 U.S.C. 5117(c), PHMSA is required to give notice to the public of Special Permit applications which have been under review for issuance or renewal for longer than 180 days. The list includes initial Special Permit applications as well as modification, renewal, and party status requests. The reason(s) for delay and the expected completion date for action on each application is provided in association with each identified application. The full notice can be viewed at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-13/pdf/2011-22942.pdf
PHMSA also published HM-244D, a corrections document in the September 13, 2011 Federal Register. PHMSA annually reviews the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180) to identify typographical errors, outdated addresses or other contact information, and similar errors. In the final rule, PHMSA is correcting typographical errors, incorrect CFR references and citations, inconsistent use of terminology, misstatements of certain regulatory requirements, inadvertent omissions of information and outdated transition dates. The full Final Rule can be viewed at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-13/pdf/2011-23167.pdf
The US organization COSTHA (Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles) is petitioning the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) regarding changes to a Department of Transport (DOT) special permit widely used by industry. These changes may add requirements to US shippers of small packages containing ethanol.
The permit in question, DOT-SP 9275, exempts the transportation in of small packages of liquids and solids containing ethanol from the provisions the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) of 49 CFR. In effect, if certain packaging safety considerations are met, the package may be transported by ground with no labels or other hazard communication, such as shipping papers.
In the latest consideration of this special permit, PHMSA has proposed that the packages should, at a minimum, be marked with the name of the company responsible for the shipment, and the words “Contains Ethyl Alcohol, exempted quantity”. In their letter of petition dated June 14, 2011, COSTHA has submitted to the DOT that these markings will increase the cost of preparing packages, and that there is no justification from studies of such shipments to indicate that safety will be improved by including these markings. Shippers using this special permit include many companies in the cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries.
Note that this special permit only applies to shippers within the United States, so should not have a significant effect on Canadian shippers of small packages containing ethanol.
Text of the show-cause letter from PHMSA may be found at:
by Jim Henry on April 25, 2011 at 9:18 am · in Jim's Blog
This year’s Forum was held in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Hilton Scottsdale Hotel.
Sunday started with a course – Safe and Compliant Transportation of Batteries presented by Tom Ferguson (COSTHA) and Brendan Sullivan (IATA).
Japan does not allow the first year of an IMDG Code amendment to be optional, it is mandatory. For the 35th Amendment, the following do not apply during 2011:
Limited quantity mark
UN3171 Battery powered equipment
UN3476 Fuel cell cartridges (packed with or in equipment)
For lithium, there are cells: cylindrical, prismatic and polymer; for batteries: laptop, camcorder, hybrid vehicles (to name a few). When looking at lithium, we need to look at cells vs. batteries. For lithium ion, we use ELC – equivalent lithium content or watt hour (Wh) rating. These can include lithium cobalt, lithium ion phosphate, etc. For lithium metal, the content of the lithium is used. Lithium cells/batteries are subject to the UN Manual of Test and Criteria, section 38.3. This section outlines the tests required, such as:
Altitude
Vibration
Shock
Short circuit, and
Overcharging
If the cells/batteries do not pass the tests, then they would require competent authority approval.
For shipping lithium batteries by air, each packing instruction has 3 sections – general, section 1 fully regulated and section 2 excepted. For shipments under section 2, the requirements are similar to SP188 of the UN Recommendations. These are excepted shipments not non-restricted; in other words, the batteries are still dangerous goods. The lithium battery label of 120 x 110 mm can be reduced in size to 74 x 105 mm for smaller packages.
Section 1 is for fully regulated batteries. In the IATA Dangerous Goods Panel, for 2013, there will be a move away from gross weight. For 2011, there are 3 new special provisions – A181, A182 and A183.
Shipping lithium batteries under the IMDG Code results in the use of packing instruction P903. Nickel metal hydride (NmH) batteries are regulated under the IMDG Code. In the 35th Amendment, SP963 and SP117 apply. In column 8a of the Code, it reads “See SP963”. For quantities > 100 kg, a shipping document MUST state “Stow away from Heat”, and column 16 applies for segregation – stow away from heat. No marks, labels or placards are required.
The battery roundtable discussed recycling, focus on the auto industry, manufacturers will start collecting alkaline batteries later this year, need for the Wh marking and which regulations to use. Geoff Leach (UK CAA) stated that when he was last in Beijing, he was handed a map on where to buy knock-off products. This indicates that there needs to be training to overcome the cultural issue, so that only OEM tested materials are shipped. There is also a need to educate the passenger who TSA is looking at doing in the waiting line and/or during the aircraft safety briefing.
Geoff continued with harmonization in which he stated that confusion results where regulations differ resulting in frustration. The air acceptance requirements need to change to have some sort of undeclared dangerous goods protocol and develop standardized risk analysis. Some problems with shipping by air are batteries:
Used batteries – not recalls but spent, holds no charge, etc.
Relabeling – OEM ships regulated, properly marked/labelled batteries to Company A who rebrands the battery but it does not have the required label markings.
Rebuilt/refurbished – some types of batteries can be rebuilt, but it still has the original label; the rebuilt battery should be retested but this does not happen
For shipping dangerous goods by air, the bottom line is safe travel.
