If you ship lithium batteries, or anything with batteries in it, your job seems to get more challenging every week. New battery-shipping rules have made some air transport all but impossible, and the regulatory landscape—er, airscape—is primed for more restrictions. Do you sometimes wish lithium batteries would just go away? Dream on! Battery power is…
11 places security seals are essential in Dangerous Goods
Seals Series, Volume 1 — If you’re in the Dangerous Goods business, you probably use security seals somewhere. Maybe lots of somewheres. But you might not realize how many ways and places DG professionals put seals to work. A closure device that can be opened only once can protect more than you might think. Locks…
Addendum 4 and Supplement Addendum to the 2015-2016 ICAO Technical Instructions
2015-2016 ICAO TI Addendum 4: Doc 9284-2015-2016.ADD-4.en Supplement Addendum: Doc 9284SUP-ADDENDUM.en
Infographic | Hazard Class Zodiac
If you’re a Dangerous Goods professional, you believe in science, not superstition. You’d never go in for all that astrological nonsense, would you? Still, even DG pros want to know what the future holds in store. That’s why we created the Hazard Class Zodiac. Find your “sign” to learn everything about your personality, your ideal…
10 strangest hazmat items in the 2016 Emergency Response Guidebook
Everyone in the Dangerous Goods business has at least one copy of the Emergency Response Guidebook nearby at all times, right? (If not, stop reading and click here right now!) But how many of us actually sit down and read it? Well, we did, and we discovered some hazmat items in the essential ERG that…
FAA Reauthorization Legislation Focused on Lithium Batteries
Bob Richard and Neil McCulloch co-contributed to this article. When a US Senator proposes to spend tax dollars on a committee to “promote research and new standards for the safe manufacture, use or transportation of lithium batteries,” I can only sigh in frustration. This is exactly what was recently proposed by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.. …
DG Advisory Council tries to make sense of lithium battery provisions
Why would anyone choose to spend three days in Washington a few days after the city was shut down for the Storm of the Decade? That’s what 70 or so DG experts asked ourselves, before we got down to the serious business of the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council January quarterly meeting in Alexandria last week.…
DG Digest: PHMSA Hazmat R&D Meeting
February 4, 2016: PHMSA announces Hazardous Materials R&D public meeting The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS) will host a public meeting between March 23 and March 24, 2016, at the Department of Transportation (DOT) headquarters in Washington, D.C. The OHMS will be presenting the…
How to speak “football”—a guide for the Dangerous Goods professional
Even the most dedicated Dangerous Goods professional can’t help but hear about football this time of year. Here’s a quick guide to a selection of football terms that sound like they could refer to the Dangerous Goods business. Study this list, and you’ll sound like you know what you’re talking about at that Big Game…
DG Digest: COSTHA to co-host 3rd UN Lithium Battery Working Group Meeting
January 27, 2015: COSTHA to co-host 3rd UN Lithium Battery Working Group Meeting with REACH and PRBA The Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA) will co-host the 3rd Session of the current United Nations (UN) Informal Working Group on Lithium Batteries in Bordeaux, France between March 30 and April 1, 2016. The preliminary…