Sometimes, we overlook the obvious. I was working with a client just last week and was asked to evaluate a pair of materials for further handling at a new site they are developing. “Will you please send me the Safety Data Sheets? I’ll take a look and run the numbers,” I said. A few minutes…
South American hazmat rules are newly harmonized. Are you trained up?
Those of us in the North American Dangerous Goods supply chain may complain about the complexity of hazmat regulations, but lots of us don’t know how good we have it. After all, we only have to worry about one set of UN Model Regulations. Sure, there may be slight, unharmonized differences between Europe and North…
What are operator variations, and how do they impact your hazmat shipments?
The IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations manual—known throughout the supply chain as the “IATA DGR”—is universally acknowledged as the world’s single authority on the compliant transport of hazardous materials by air. It’s more than 1,000 pages thick. Surely IATA has issued every rule any shipper would need to know, right? Not quite. There’s a whole chapter…
DG Digest: EU notifies of proposed amendments to the ADR
The week that ended with the Independence Day holiday finds the US continuing its battle with the novel coronavirus outbreak. Let’s all keep moving forward and doing our best to help mitigate the outbreak. The week was very quiet in a regulatory sense, perhaps typical of summer holiday periods. Our friends in the EU kept…
Hazmat Quizmaster: Do you know how to ship lithium batteries by air?
KEEP YOUR LITHIUM BATTERY SHIPMENTS COMPLIANT Lithium batteries are hazmat, and the regulations for shipping them change often. Keep your shipments safe and compliant with a complete line of lithium battery resources from Labelmaster. Make sure your shipments are safe and in complete compliance with a full line of solutions from Labelmaster—a full-service provider of goods and services for hazardous materials…
How to ship lithium batteries by air—in 2020 and beyond
Since 2016, when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) implemented drastically more restrictive global regulations on shipping lithium batteries by air, shippers have adapted and done their best to comply. Yet many still find the regulations confusing and have questions about what they can and cannot do. In March 2019, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials…
Why the new lithium battery test summary rules are nothing to stress out about
On January 1, 2020, a new regulation goes into effect that will impact every organization that manufactures or distributes lithium batteries and/or the equipment they power. These companies will be required to share information, known as a “test summary,” that proves their batteries meet the testing standards as defined in sub-section 38.3 of the UN…
Shipping hazmat to (or from) China? Here are 5 things you must know
One of the most fascinating presentations at the latest Dangerous Goods Symposium was from Terry Guo, CDGP, DGSA, Regulatory Specialist and China Representative with IHMM. His presentation on “Hazardous Materials Transport Requirements in China” was an excellent primer on a very complex subject. You can download his full presentation here, but we also spoke with…
Postal rates may increase if U.S. departs Universal Postal Union
Although it does not have the current traction in the news that many other topics do, a technical arrangement that governs the US Postal Service’s relations to other international postal bodies may leave US-based shippers facing higher fees. A meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on September 25-26th is more or less the last chance for the…
DG Symposium Day 2: A spotlight on advanced hazmat technology
Technology was one of the dominant themes of the 4th annual Dangerous Goods Confidence Outlook, the results of which were revealed during Day 1 of the 2019 Dangerous Goods Symposium. Among the survey’s findings: 55% of companies rely on manual processes, at least in part, for shipping hazmat. 45% called their ability to centrally store…