The approach of mid-July finds summer getting in to full swing; remember to pay attention to managing heat related issues in your workplace, and remind everyone to watch out on the road—many more pedestrians, especially children, are “out and about” in the long dusk of the summer. Safety first! Here’s this week’s regulatory action: PHMSA…
Game of Thrones 2017 preview (Hazmat Transport edition)
Last year, we convincingly demonstrated that the hugely popular HBO series Game of Thrones is really about hazmat transport. To recap: Game of Thrones and the hazmat transport business are each based on an extremely long, frighteningly complex book series—A Song of Ice and Fire and the Codes of Federal Regulations, respectively. Flammable liquids (Hazard…
DG Digest: PHMSA Special Permits Announced and the EPA Amends the ‘All Appropriate Inquiries’ Rule
The last Monday of the month (already!) finds a new week of regulatory activity at a slightly quicker pace than has been typical of late. A quick reminder to be safe in the coming summer heat! It’s easy to forget to keep our workplaces safe from heat related injury or illness—be sure your premises aren’t…
DG Digest: New York State Proposes Skirting Lax Federal Environmental Policy
PHMSA/OSHA June rolls the summer in with continuing low levels of US regulatory activity; perhaps the biggest news is the preparations under way for the big July UNECE meeting over in Geneva, Switzerland. Will new international proposals impact the regulatory outlook here? We’ll keep an eye on it for you! Meanwhile, here is this week’s…
13 things you may not know about lithium, batteries, and lithium batteries
With lithium batteries always a hot subject at meetings of the IATA Dangerous Goods Board and the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel, you might be tempted to ask, What can they possibly say about lithium batteries that we don’t already know? Well, here are a few things … Lithium is the third smallest element and the…
DG Digest: PHMSA revises safety advisory, OSHA issues a set of ICRs, and FAA to host meeting on drones
Greetings everyone! Believe it or not, it’s less than a week till the new month comes in—May already—and now that everyone’s spring breaks seem to have ended, regulatory action has perked back up just a little. Let’s dive right in to the action: PHMSA The agency issued a revised safety advisory governing the use of…
DG Digest: HM-215N Published in the March 30th Federal Register
April arrives with a roar! The long awaited PHMSA HM-215N UN Harmonization final rule originally scheduled for a January 26th publication FINALLY made it into the Federal Register on March 30th. See below for amplifying major details. That’s definitely the elephant in this week’s regulatory room; the EU and the USDOT’s FRA provide the other…
DG Digest: FMCSA pulls revised carrier safety fitness determination and EPA cuts could portend the end of the Chemical Safety Board
As March Madness approaches its climax with the selection of the “Final Four,” Dangerous Goods’ own version of this Spring’s guessing game goes on as well. The elusive USDOT/PHMSA HM-215N UN Harmonization remains unpublished as of this morning, and the rumors that had its release “imminent” seem to have ebbed as well. For now, patience…
DG Digest: Lithium Batteries in the News and PHMSA adds 60 Days to Comment Period on Bulk Flammable Liquid Carriage
Today is the first day of Spring! I hope the day finds you someplace that is getting warmer and brighter as the year progresses. Progress on the regulatory front remains slow, as the “freeze” continues to make its presence felt through a still-glacial pace of new regulatory releases. On the HM-215N front, the song remains…
DG Digest: despite persistent rumors of movement, HM-215N remains in limbo
Happy Daylight Savings Time! Hopefully the famed “National Jet Lag Day” has not caused you too much angst. Statistics show that the Monday following the “Spring Forward” time shift is a peak day for traffic accidents, so please be extra careful. Regulatory activity continues at fairly low ebb, although it does seem to be slowly…