April arrives with a roar! The long awaited PHMSA HM-215N UN Harmonization final rule originally scheduled for a January 26th publication FINALLY made it into the Federal Register on March 30th. See below for amplifying major details. That’s definitely the elephant in this week’s regulatory room; the EU and the USDOT’s FRA provide the other…
DG Digest: FMCSA pulls revised carrier safety fitness determination and EPA cuts could portend the end of the Chemical Safety Board
As March Madness approaches its climax with the selection of the “Final Four,” Dangerous Goods’ own version of this Spring’s guessing game goes on as well. The elusive USDOT/PHMSA HM-215N UN Harmonization remains unpublished as of this morning, and the rumors that had its release “imminent” seem to have ebbed as well. For now, patience…
DG Digest: Lithium Batteries in the News and PHMSA adds 60 Days to Comment Period on Bulk Flammable Liquid Carriage
Today is the first day of Spring! I hope the day finds you someplace that is getting warmer and brighter as the year progresses. Progress on the regulatory front remains slow, as the “freeze” continues to make its presence felt through a still-glacial pace of new regulatory releases. On the HM-215N front, the song remains…
DG Digest: despite persistent rumors of movement, HM-215N remains in limbo
Happy Daylight Savings Time! Hopefully the famed “National Jet Lag Day” has not caused you too much angst. Statistics show that the Monday following the “Spring Forward” time shift is a peak day for traffic accidents, so please be extra careful. Regulatory activity continues at fairly low ebb, although it does seem to be slowly…
In The News: Safety Woes can be Major Bad News
No company wants to suffer safety problems. Worker injuries, illnesses, and in some tragic cases, fatalities, impact employees and their families in what can be devastating ways. Such incidents also negatively impact the morale of the workforce, cause loss of production, and force the expenditure of unplanned time and fiscal resources to mitigate. They can…
DG Digest: PHMSA addresses ICAO and IMDG Code issues surrounding regulatory freeze
February wraps up with the “regulatory freeze” still in effect in the United States. As such, new US regulatory activity remains low. Rumors continue to swirl regarding imminent release of the USDOT/PHMSA HM-215N UN Harmonization; however, as of press time Monday morning it has not appeared and it is not presently on the schedule for…
DG Digest: HM-215N Limbo and the EPA Releases (Draft) Greenhouse Gas Emissions — 1990-2015
Today marks the beginning of the second month of the “regulatory freeze” order by the new Trump Administration. Action in the field remains at a low level as the often brand-new leadership in the various federal agencies goes about reviewing the current status of their respective departments’ projects. On the DOT front, speculation continues over…
DG Digest: OSHA Collection Request for Info on Construction Fall Protection and Delay in New STB Metric
And the freeze goes on. The United States continues to labor under the regulatory freeze imposed by the new administration. No specific end dates have yet been set for the action. One hopeful rumor (and it is at this point only rumor) is that the new Transportation Secretary, the Honorable Ms. Elaine Chao, may soon…
DG Digest: Riding the Deep Freeze…and the CPSC to Hear Arguments on Portable Generator Emissions
The third week of the regulatory freeze finds the anticipated result impacting the current pace of activity—the last week saw action drop off to a minimal level. At present, when and how the freeze will lift and exactly what final impact it may have on what was planned before its implementation remains unclear—we’ll be watching…
DG Digest: regulatory freeze may mean rollbacks and will PHMSA preempt Oregon’s haz waste rule?
The new week brings with it uncertainty over the current regulatory situation. On January 21st, 2017, the newly installed Trump Administration imposed a regulatory freeze on US federal rulemaking. As a result, rules not yet finalized for submission to the Federal Register were placed in hold status; rules which had been finalized but were not…