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…
ICAO Panel Moves to Ban Lithium Ion Battery Transport from Passenger Aircraft
ICAO’s Air Navigation Commission (ANC) has completed its review of the Dangerous Goods Panel’s 25th meeting and will be recommending to the Governing Council of ICAO that Lithium Ion batteries be prohibited from transport on passenger aircraft. The conclusion of the Commission was that the risks of these batteries in flight was currently “not adequately…
10 must-have items for hazmat shipping when it’s freaking cold
If you’re transporting Dangerous Goods anywhere north of Arizona this time of year, it seems like every conversation starts like this: “Cold out.” “Yeah. Supposed to get colder.” “Really? $*%#@!” But Dangerous Goods shipments don’t care if your eyelashes freeze together or your fingertips go numb. You have to keep your shipments safe and on-time—but…
ICAO imposes first-ever charge limit on lithium battery shipments, effective April 1
ICAO has published its much anticipated addendum highlighting additional consignment conditions for the transport of lithium batteries. The ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel considered that these would significantly improve the already high-level of safety of these shipments and it would be prudent to have them in place as soon as possible. As a result, the ICAO addendum…
DG Digest: ICAO’s Lithium Battery Changes Coming to The Technical Instructions
Long-time observers of the various UN dangerous goods organizations could be forgiven for double checking their calendars in November, as the ICAO Secretariat issued the final report of the 25th meeting of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) less than 3 weeks after the conclusion of the meeting. The reason for this surprising and…
Can You Solve the DG Shipping Regulations Puzzle?
We all sometimes feel like we don’t have a clue about all the rules and agencies that regulate Dangerous Goods. Now you have 15! This puzzle will test your DG expertise. Every answer is an abbreviation of a regulatory agency or a set of regulations. The deeper your DG knowledge, the faster you’ll solve the…