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: 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 industry data: PHMSA’s incident report highlights greatest supply chain safety risks in Q1
Hazmat incidents may be more common than you realize. Despite the great work by Hazmat/DG Professionals — those making sure that compliance to transport regulations are strictly followed for each shipment — incidents of all manner happen regularly. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) gathers all U.S. DG/Hazmat incident…
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: HHS updates requirements for new class of respirators, PHMSA provides guidance for handling shipping papers
The week just concluded finds the COVID-19 outbreak continuing to dominate regulatory activity, though there is a strong leavening of other news. Meanwhile, all of us continue to work towards moving the nation into a recovery phase, whenever that may become safe. For now, stay the course! Continue social distancing, wash those hands, protect your…
PHMSA Issues Hazmat Shipping Paper Guidance During COVID-19 Social Distancing
On April 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a guidance document addressing the transfer of hazardous material shipping papers during the current COVID-19 pandemic. PHMSA has received many questions related to the transfer of shipping papers between shippers and carriers, and the difficulties with maintaining…
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…