The new week brings with it renewed concerns over the pace of the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak continues to accelerate at present, so it’s more important than ever for us to make sure that our workplaces follow all applicable guidelines to keep employees as safe as possible under the present circumstances. The week also brought…
DG Digest: PHMSA extends COVID-19 exceptions, EPA publishes final Methylene Chloride risk evaluation
As we wrap up June, the nation is unfortunately experiencing a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in many states. It’s important to be mindful of the necessary precautions to help keep your workplace as safe as possible for your level of operations. It’s also important to stay safe at home and while in your community.…
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: 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: 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…
Want to show supply chain workers real gratitude? Make hazmat compliance more important.
For workers in the Dangerous Goods supply chain, the first quarter of 2020 was extraordinary—for two reasons. The first reason? That’s obvious. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered seismic shifts in what we ship, how much we ship and how we ship it, and the global supply chain met the challenge. Despite a steep drop in overall…
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: PHMSA releases interpretive guide and USPS issues special exemption for hand sanitizer transport
The holiday weekend just concluded finds the nation still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic as the overriding priority in virtually every aspect of our daily lives. This applies to the logistics sector as well, with several new items of interest related to the subject. Life does go on in the meantime too of course, and this is…
DG Digest: DOT announces $1 billion in infrastructure grants
The first week in March finds the nation confronting a potentially serious health threat in the form of the new COVD-19 coronavirus. The biggest positive actions we as regulatory and EHS professionals can take to help our fellow employees is to encourage everyone to not panic, and to employ common sense precautions like thorough hand…
DG Digest: FRA publishes regulation on risk reduction programs and FMCSA announces reduced fees for states
The week just ended found regulatory activity about normal—several actions of interest including several Special Permit actions from PHMSA and a big new final rule from the FRA. In another story that is not currently receiving heavy US media coverage, our Canadian neighbors are experiencing an environmental and political dispute that has had a significant impact…