Considering the sheer impact of lithium batteries and the devices they power on today’s global economy, any new wrinkle in the regulations governing lithium battery transport creates aftershocks among: Battery manufacturers Device manufacturers Airlines and freight carriers E-commerce retailers Product recall managers Third-party logistics companies Hazmat trainers And anyone who owns a cell phone, laptop,…
Confessions of a 3PL hazmat manager: “Lithium batteries are my life.”
Cody DeGrush is Hazardous Materials Manager at GEODIS. As a hazardous materials manager for a major third-party logistics (3PL) company, I’m almost a regulatory consultant within my own company. I share guidance with other organizations whenever regulations change, I gather information when onboarding a new client, and I oversee training. For the last four years,…
Dangerous Goods transport technology: Wouldn’t it be cool if …
A couple of weeks ago, we published our 2018 DG Wish List, in which Dangerous Goods professionals from around the world shared their fondest dreams for the industry. Most of these wishes were pretty practical, from simplifying lithium battery shipping regulations to making sure shippers were better educated about hazmat. Others were grander in scale—like…
DG Digest: FAA Proposes its Largest-to-Date $1.1 Million Dollar Lithium Battery Fine
As the winter holidays loom close, regulatory activity has slowed accordingly. Canada remains busy though, releasing a new revision to its maritime rules. Otherwise things are a bit slow. Have a wonderful holiday next Monday! Here’s the latest: Canada TDGR Our neighbors to the north have completed and published a long awaited revision to their…
Don’t use hazmat software? Here are some things you might need
Of all the shocks in our 2017 Global Dangerous Goods Confidence Outlook, the biggest might have been this one: 26% of DG pros say they use no DG software – they use manual processes for any hazardous materials they ship or handle. Since we offer DGIS, the most sophisticated hazmat software available, we’d like to…
Hey hazmat pros—what’s #1 on your 2018 Dangerous Goods wish list?
Back in 2016, if you’d asked people who ship lithium batteries and battery-powered devices what they wished for in 2017, they might have said “We wish there was a simple cardboard box that contained lithium battery fires without gels, pellets or heavy liners. Then we might be able to compliantly ship our products via commercial…
Fall meetings highlight changes in Dangerous Goods air transport
The fall season in odd-numbered years has traditionally been a busy time for people who handle Dangerous Goods by air, and 2017 was no exception. Consider this timetable: Labelmaster’s 12th Dangerous Goods Symposium, Chicago, Sept. 6–8 IATA’s Dangerous Goods Board, 111th meeting in Brussels, Sept. 18–21 IATA’s Lithium Battery Seminar in Barcelona, Oct. 3–5 ICAO’s…
DG Digest: TSA Expanding Biometric Data to Pre-Check Customers and OSHA Issues IRC on ‘Control of Hazardous Energy.’
Halloween has come and gone, and November is rushing right in with the holiday season just around the corner. Will regulatory activity speed up with the season? We’ll have to wait and see. Here’s what was new this week, with Information Collection Requests and meeting notices being the primary stories: OSHA The agency renewed an…
Is Obexion the lithium battery shipping breakthrough we’ve been waiting for?
To the surprise of absolutely no one, lithium battery shipping once again dominated the agenda at the recent 2017 Dangerous Goods Symposium. The story, in a nutshell: There will continue to be more and more lithium batteries and battery-powered devices to transport, and transporting them safely and compliantly will continue to be challenging. The big…
Dangerous Goods Symposium Day 3—Lithium Battery Day
Day 3 of the Dangerous Goods Symposium has, for the last few years, been known as “Lithium Battery Day.” It’s only a half day, but the always-vigorous discussion panel gives the 300 DG pros in attendance a full day’s worth of information to digest. We’ll get to highlights of today’s panel in a minute. But…