The morass of regulations for hazardous loads badly needs tidying up
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by John Darker AMBIM
THE BULK HAULAGE of chemicals and fuels by road in the next decade is likely to expand faster than any other definable transport sector, in the opinion of well-qualified operators. Common regulations for across-frontier and domestic haulage would seem to be called for; indeed, there are powerful arguments for a world-wide statute covering the technical and operational parameters.
Our contemporary, European Chemical News, recently published a Storage and Distribution Survey (July 27) which has yielded much relevant material of interest to specialist bulk carriers.
In Britain three Ministries are involved with the regulation of dangerous goods traffic by road and there would be huge administrative problems in making a single ministry responsible. If each member country of the Common Market has a similarly complex governmental apparatus there are more than a score of ministers in the EEC alone with an iron in the hazardous transport fire. Add to the ministers and their civil servants many other national and international organizations, and a host of manufacturers' and operators' associations, and the answer is at best an untidy muddle and at worst an unqualified disaster.
For the carriage of hazardous loads presents the politically powerful environment lobby with potent weapons it will not hesitate to use. Pollution of seaways shakes governments and spectacular road accidents involving lethal products naturally exercises public opinion.
Specialist road operators of bulk vehicles may not be aware of the proliferation of organizations involved or the threat posed to the industry by ill-considered action. How many British operators of bulk haulage vehicles know that France is considering legislation which would multiply fines to operators a hundredfold? The survey which follows is by no means exhaustive.
The Economic Commission for Europe inaugurated an Inland Transport Committee after the Second World War. ECE is the regional instrument of the United Nations Organization, operating as a Pan-European organization in East and West Europe. Its participating countries include Poland, Hungary, the USSR, Jugoslavia, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and the USA, as well as the members of the European Economic Community (EEC).
The Inland Transport Committee of the ECE has inaugurated some 30 treaties on a European basis since 1947, including the TIR relating to international road traffic and signs. It is not an executive authority but its authoritative discussions have led to the drawing up of internationally agreed treaties which, when ratified by a given proportion of member countries, become mandatory on the remainder.
Expert working party Dangerous goods transport problems are dealt with by an expert working party of the Inland Transport Committee of the ECE, known as WP 15. The principal product of WP 15 is the ADR agreement laying down rules for the cross-frontier carriage of dangerous goods by road. ADR is administered from Geneva.
A similar treaty known by the initials RID deals with dangerous goods by rail. Because the Berne committee responsible antedates the formation of the United Nations it should not be considered part of the UN or the Inland Transport Committee, though RID and ADR committees meet periodically to align the two sets of regulations.
The EEC has accumulated much knowledge of general transport problems but its expertise does not approach that of Working Party 15 in the matter of dangerous goods by road. The EEC has strongly urged its member countries to ratify the ADR (road) treaty and all save Denmark and Ireland have done so.
WP 15 has recently evolved a numerical marking system for road tankers using the principle of allocating each chemical a unique number containing four digits, with a second, two-digit number denoting the hazard classification. The scheme has the merit of simplicity since it provides for universal identification without problems of language. A formal recommendation by France to amend the ADR rules will clear the way for the use of this numerical marking system.
Because international treaties refer only to cross-frontier traffic, the rules do not automatically apply within the domestic legislation of member countries but the Inland Transport Committee has urged all its members to base domestic regulations on the same principles.
There is a working party of the EEC Commission investigating certain problems associated with dangerous goods movements. It will in due course present a memorandum to the Council of Ministers within the European Parliament. No one knows the outcome; the findings may be presented to the wider body, the ECE, with the recommendation that they be included in the ADR charters. Alternatively, the EEC could implement the new proposals within the territory of the Nine and hope that the ECE would make the code applicable to its larger geographical area.
The EEC studies are understood to include mandatory speed limits for vehicles carrying dangerous goods, temporary bans on potentially dangerous vehicles during peak traffic periods such as weekends and holidays, more stringent medical tests for drivers and training needs of crews, with standard procedures in the event of accidents.
Prohibited routes
The working party of the European Commission is considering proposals of the Inland Transport Committee relating to the banning of vehicles from carrying more than a certain quantity of a dangerous substance and the prohibition of vehicles carrying hazardous loads from built-up areas. A universal system of road signs defining permitted and prohibited routes is under consideration.
Sharing the same secretariat at WP 15 at Geneva is the UN Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. This committee is responsible to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which also sponsors the ECE. The UN Committee of Experts liaises closely with WP 15. It has a world role, inviting delegates from such countries as Japan, the USA, the USSR, Norway, Chile and the Netherlands.
The four-digit identification system for chemical tankers had already been adopted by the United Nations following recommendations by the Committee of Experts. The United Nations is soon to publish a report offering recommendations to transport of dangerous goods by air, sea, road, rail and inland waterway. WP 15 will be free to implement this should it wish to do so.
The International Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) is another specialized United Nations body operating from London with its own budget. It is concerned with transport of dangerous goods by sea; a new convention will extend its role to the protection of the marine environment. The sea carriage rules of IMCO have the status of law and failure to comply could lead a defaulting country to the International Court in The Hague. But in other areas IMCO has only advisory powers.
Watchdog role Below government level chemical associations and transport interests play a watchdog role, often with representation on government working parties. CEFIC (Conseil Europeen des Federations de l'Industries Chimiqus) is a federation of the chemical industry associations of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. CEFIC members serve on WP 15 and on such bodies as the International Chamber of Commerce.
CEFIC has produced complete sets of instruction cards in the form of an easy reference manual to help manufacturers comply with European and domestic regulations of the carriage of dangerous goods. This manual is helpful to accident services in emergencies.
The information is printed on Transport Emergency Cards, known for short as Trem Cards. CEFIC recommends that the driver should carry a set attached to a frame in his cab. Alternatively, cards can be displayed on both sides and the rear of a vehicle at eye level, screened from mud and dirt, or the cards can be made part of the driver's consignment documents and handed to the customer with the delivery note. There are apparently no hard and fast rules at the moment.
The CEFIC Working Party display cards use the international A4 size paper. They give brief descriptions of the main hazards of the material, with advice on action necessary in given situations. It is recommended that vehicles on international journeys should carry a set of cards in the languages met with en route. The complete list of substances to be covered by the manual is still being studied by the CEFIC working party. More chemicals will be included later, (The proliferation of dangerous substances highlights the essential problem. It has been estimated that it would be possible to produce more than 1000 organo-phosphorus compounds, most of which would be dangerous or toxic to some degree.) The International Road Union (TRU) represents its national road haulage association members on a number of international committees.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) is concerned with maintaining and updating the standards of materials and equipment used in conjunction with dangerous materials. The British Standards Institute (B SI) attends the Geneva meetings of ISO.
The framework of agreed rules for cross-frontier traffic provided by the ADR convention does not mean there are no domestic variations between countries. Liquid chlorine can be conveyed by road in the UK with no restrictions, but in Holland the Dutch chemical industry has agreed to cease road despatches of liquid chlorine within the foreseeable future. It is believed that Italy is considering restrictions on the road movement of this liquid too.
In France an Act of 1952 led to an Interministerial Commission for the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Regulations drafted by the Commission in 1945 and which became law then, have been added to regularly since. The present complex document is to be reshaped and simplified by M. Henri Kemler, president of the Commission. This task is likely to take some years.
French enforcement Because of the complicated rules, enforcement by the French police has led to difficulties. The French Minister of Transport has set up a small group (initially 15 members) charged with responsibility to exercise proper control over the transport of dangerous goods.
For the first three months the group reported infringements to the driver and the transport company, and this was said to be effective. It is perhaps surprising that legislation now being drawn up to help the inspectors and the Gendarmerie will move contraventions from the first category of severity to the fifth; effectively, penalties for infringements will be increased by about one hundredfold.
There is a Committee for the Prevention of Disasters from Hazardous Materials in the Netherlands which is part of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Practical and financial assistance has been given to this committee by transport, chemical and storage companies, and by local and national authorities, such as the fire brigade and port authority of Rotterdam. As a result of research into the properties of acrylonitrile — toxic when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and flammable and explosive when mixed with air in certain proportions — there has been a change in the distribution of this product in the Netherlands. To discourage its passing through the port of Rotterdam a surcharge was imposed, but with little effect. Government pressure has persuaded importers to spread this traffic over a number of ports.
In the UK the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of the Environment (DoE), and the Home Office are each concerned with aspects of legislation on dangerous goods. The DTI is responsible for sea transport and it liaises with IMCO. Representatives from the DoE and the Home Office sit on Working Party 15, committee meetings of RID, and on the UN Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.
A DoE working party meets before any session of the committee or sub-committee of the ECE in Geneva or Berne. The official policy of the UK government stems from formal and informal discussions between the three Ministries concerned, supplemented by liaison with experts from the manufacturing industries and transport people. UK delegates to ECE and EEC meetings are briefed by a DoE working party.
The UK Chemical Industries Association (CIA) has a distribution committee chaired by Mr David Hunter of ICI. The committee deals with four subjects: marking and labelling; inland transport — road, rail, maritime and air; packaging and materials handling.
The CIA Distribution Committee set up in October 1972 a Working Party, under Mr Jenkins-Jones of ICI, to examine procedures for dealing with incidents involving hazardous freight at any stage of transit and to make recommendations. The committee's report is now, it is understood, being studied by Mr David Lane of the Home Office and Mr John Peyton, Minister for Transport Industries.
RHA collaboration A Manual of Principles of Safety Requirements for the Road Transport of Hazardous Chemicals in the UK was recently published by the Chemical Industries Association with the active collaboration of the Road Haulage Association.
The Manufacturing Chemists' Association (MCA) in the United States launched in 1971 a scheme known as Chemtrec, standing for Chemical Transport Emergency Centre, with the objective of providing immediate advice for those at the scene of an emergency caused by a hazardous chemical. A national number can be telephoned without charge by the caller at any time, day or night, throughout the year.
In the US, drivers of bulk chemical lorries carry Chemtrec's telephone number in their traffic documents. The number has been widely circulated to emergency service personnel, hauliers, chemical industry and governmental agencies. All possible information is passed on to the personnel at the scene of the accident after the Chemtrec communicator has processed the information available. The communicator will contact the sender of the goods and if necessary also inform the National Transportation Safety Board and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Although MCA accounts for about 90 per cent of the production capacity of the US chemical industry and can thus offer a service for any likely situation, Chemtrec collaborates with the accident services provided by major companies such as Du Pont's TERP, Union Carbide's HELP, and American Cyanamid's TWERP. This type of collaboration enables one manufacturer to deal with an emergency involving another company's product — a common approach for cargoes of chlorine and pesticides.
New legislation In Europe, a counterpart for Chemtrec would be of great value. The numerical classification system discussed earlier could provide a first step towards a similar system, though the biggest hindrance is that of diverse language barriers.
New legislation — likely before the end of 1973 in the UK — is being drawn up by the Home Office Standing Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Chemical Industries Association. Conveyance regulations are likely to cover inflammable liquids and corrosives, organic peroxides, liquified petroleum gases, other compressed gases and possibly toxics — and similar regulations for other categories may follow later. It would not be surprising if the Advisory Committee tries to concert its policies with those of the EEC.