DGAC's 30 Greatest Accomplishments

#10 DGAC Tackles the Loading & Unloading Issue

DGAC routinely submits comments to regulatory agencies regarding current and proposed rulemakings. Often, these comments help to shape the face of the regulations and ultimately of the industry.

One of the more contentious rulemakings over the past decade or so has been the HM-223 rulemaking, or "Applicability of the Hazardous Materials Regulations to Loading, Unloading and Storage."

First published by RSPA under an ANPRM in 1996, it "sought to define where transportation regulatory authority begins and ends with the general conclusion that bulk loading and unloading operations are not transportation functions and therefore not subject to regulation by DOT," said DGAC's Technical Director Frits Wybenga.

"For industry this created the potential for state and local governments to issue conflicting regulations on loading and unloading with lack of uniformity being detrimental to transportation safety," said Wybenga.

DGAC has been involved in the rulemaking process since the beginning, submitting comments several times. Read the November 12, 1996 response to the ANPRM. See other comment letters in the sidebar.

In spite of PHMSA's conclusion regarding bulk loading and unloading operations and as a result of a series of serious incidents involving the same, the National Transportation Safety Board has continued to advocate for the development of safety requirements on loading and unloading.

More recently PHMSA's own analysis of its incident data has shown that more than 50 percent of serious incidents stem from failures in some aspect of the loading and unloading operation.

On the basis of PHMSA's newly expressed interest in addressing the safety issues loading and unloading operations pose, DGAC established a working group under its NARLA Committee to prepare draft loading and unloading requirements applicable to the wide diversity of loading and unloading practices currently being followed and the diversity of substances transferred.

DGAC Member Rick Barlow of LyondellBasell chaired the working group. "Ever since HM-223 came out," said Barlow, "DOT reduced jurisdiction and DGAC has been concerned about lack of knowledge of agencies that may come in to try and regulate in place of DOT."

"We believe here at Lyondell that DOT is the correct agency to regulate this because they have more knowledge of the packaging and the cargo tanks than either OSHA or EPA," said Barlow. "They [DOT] should be more in-tune with issues relating to those. Both the CSB and NTSB have recommended in the past that DOT regulate these areas."

The resulting DGAC loading and unloading provisions were provided to PHMSA in the form of draft regulatory text in a petition for rulemaking. They are currently under active consideration by PHMSA.

This petition is important, said Barlow, because "Having uniform requirements for loading and unloading will allow them to develop a more standardized and efficient training program." It would also "facilitate moving personnel from one site to the other without removing their capability to perform loading and unloading at each facility."

Current PHMSA Administrator Carl Johnson has indicated that the issue is one of his top priorities. For future information on this issue, bookmark our comments page. To learn more, visit Regulations.gov and search for HM-223.