In breaking news, today PHMSA published deadline extensions to its currently in force emergency exemptions allowing for both non-standard domestic ground shipment of some alcohol based hand sanitizers as well as a continuation of the extension of training recertification requirements under the 49 CFR 172.704(c)(2) past their normal expiration dates. The extensions will now run…
DG Digest: OSHA renews ICR on safety of scissor lifts
The last full week of June and the official beginning of the summer season find regulatory activity at a quiet minimum. One big question as we begin to approach July: the status of PHMSA’s emergency exemptions surrounding both training re-certifications and the domestic ground shipment of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. These exemptions have allowed for the non-standard treatment…
DG Digest: PHMSA announces development of U.S. policy on safety devices in transport
Mid-June finds the nation enduring another week forward in our “summer like no other.” As areas reopen from pandemic related lockdowns, be sure to be safe yourself, follow health guidelines and do all you can to help your fellow employees be safe too. Concurrently be aware of civil actions that may encompass the location of…
DG Digest: FMCSA publishes revised Hazardous Materials Route Registry
The week just ended found us all seemingly stuck on “repeat,” which has become an enduring facet of one of the most difficult years the United States has faced in the modern era. Efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and deal with our nation’s civil crisis continued. In the meantime, regulatory action continues, although…
DG Digest: FMCSA revised HOS rules and OSHA to hold virtual public meetings in advance of International sessions on GHS
The nation completed another very difficult of week coping with the coronavirus pandemic as well as emerging civic strife engendered by very unfortunate current events. Here’s hoping that along with health, that peace and justice make a quick return for all the people of our nation. There were several items of interest in the regulatory world,…
DG Digest: PHMSA withdraws proposed vapor limits for unrefined petroleum and class 3 materials on the nation’s railways
The nation paused over the weekend just concluded to honor its fallen military veterans and also, this year, to mark the unimaginable toll taken of our fellow citizens by the COVID-19 pandemic. Surely it was a Memorial Day unlike any of us now living has experienced. The Labelmaster family joins our country in honoring those…
DG Digest: FAA issues further guidance to carriers and crews; PHMSA in battles with two states over jurisdictional authority
In what we may all welcome as a hopeful sign of progress, mid-May finds, for the first time in several weeks, a relatively quiet regulatory world, with only a few actions in the news. Given the heavy load of notices that have characterized the blog in the last six weeks or so, perhaps we’re all…
DG Digest: ICAO publishes COVID-19 safety handbook for the aviation industry and PHMSA issues HM-215O final rule
May continues under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, in what we may all perhaps hope represents a step towards recovery, the big news this week is far more focused towards what we all might call “normal” regulatory activity, rather than the specific, focused actions related to the outbreak which have had primacy over…
DG Digest: USPS releases major revisions to Pub 52 in support of rapid transport of COVID-19 samples
The beginning of the first week in May finds the nation collectively grateful to say goodbye to a COVID-19 dominated April that must certainly rank as one of the worst and certainly tragic such months in living memory. As May begins, various locations around the nation are starting to grapple with how to begin to…
DG Digest: PHMSA eases enforcement of pandemic-related transport, and FMCSA offers hours-of-service relief for those transporting needed supplies
The week just concluded retained COVID-19 related regulatory activity as its primary focus as the nation began, at least in a few geographic areas, to show slight signs of improvement with decreases in the rate of rise of transmission being tentatively reported. However, all of us have a long way to go together to get…