Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Canada's Raitt proposes changes to 'dangerous goods' transportation regs

JUNE 8, 2015
 
Canada's Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt late last week proposed amending regulations governing the transportation of dangerous goods. The proposal would broaden the scope of the original reporting requirements and improve emergency respond and risk analysis.

The amendments, which would apply to all transportation sectors, would also allow Transport Canada to establish "more effective regulations" in the future, according to a press release issued by Raitt's office.

The amendments propose to:


• modify the criteria and circumstances under which incidents involving dangerous goods would be reported;
• require additional information for the initial telephone report to the Canadian Transport Emergency Center following an incident;
• add new requirements for the 30-day written report to improve the data available for emergency response and risk analysis;
• add a new requirement for reporting lost or stolen dangerous goods, or that have otherwise been interfered with, to better align with security provisions in the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act; and
• adopt the International Civil Aviation Organization reporting requirements for dangerous goods that are either incorrectly declared or undeclared.

"Transport Canada remains committed to having the most robust requirements in place to transport dangerous goods in order to keep Canadians safe," Raitt said.