The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) held a joint public meeting in Washington, DC on September 18th. The principal topic of discussion was the situation regarding the transport of lithium batteries via aircraft. This past summer, many individual airlines took action to limit the…
‘Why do I need a new Air Regs book every year?’
I’m often asked: why do I need a new Air Regs book every year? Always an interesting question and the answer changes every year! For 2015 though, it’s really simple. This is an ICAO year, one in which there’s a new edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions which is worldwide legal requirements for transporting dangerous…
Required Regulatory Change Affects Marking Text Size for Hazard Class Labels
Both the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently changed the required size of the text to be used when marking the United Nations Identification Number (UNID Number) on packages of dangerous goods/hazardous materials. The UNID Number is a four-digit numerical designator (for example, UN1993) which provides an internationally recognized identification number…
PHMSA Publishes Long-Awaited HM-215L Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Harmonization the Hazardous Materials Regulations with International Standards
The DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published the long-awaited HM-215L Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) today. The NPRM proposes a number of amendments to align the Hazardous Materials Regulations; 49 CFR Parts 171-180 (HMR) with the latest editions of the United Nations Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (17th revised…
PHMSA Responds to Recent Rule Appeals, Proposes to Extend ORM-D System Phase-Out Until End of 2015
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the U.S. Federal Register today addressing appeals that resulted from recent harmonization rules HM-215K and HM-231, both of which dealt with hazmat packaging requirements. Companies should examine the NPRM carefully and work with their respective trade organizations to ensure that…
PHMSA Adopts Secondary Closure Requirement for Certain Air Shipments of Hazardous Liquids
U.S. shippers of hazardous materials via aircraft should take note of new restrictions for combination packages containing liquids adopted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) last month. The new rule, HM-231A, amends the U.S. Hazardous Materials Regulations to “require closures of inner packagings containing liquids within a combination packaging intended for transportation by…
ICAO DGP Concludes Discussions, Agrees to Amend ICAO Technical Instructions to Further Reduce Risk Associated With Lithium Battery Shipments
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) held its specially scheduled working group this week at ICAO headquarters in Montreal, Canada. The meeting was chaired by Geoff Leach, the member nominated by the United Kingdom. Sixteen out of the 19 members were in attendance along with observers from Dangerous Goods Advisory Council…