The Scientifics Traffic and Dangerous Goods Team is based in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
It’s easily overlooked that the transport of dangerous goods is actually vital to the success of our economy and for sustaining many aspects of our modern lifestyle.
Dangerous goods are substances that display properties such as flammability or toxicity that can potentially cause harm to people or the environment during transport. As such it is necessary to regulate their transport by requiring a minimum quality of packaging and level of driver training etc.
Common examples of dangerous goods include petrol, carbon dioxide gas and fireworks. Stranger examples include hay and magnets!
Large volumes of dangerous goods are traded internationally, often using a combination of transport modes. It is vital therefore that regulations are harmonised internationally and across the various transport modes.
The body with overall responsibility for setting the rules on which our national domestic regulations are ultimately based is the United Nations (UN). It’s the role of the UN to develop worldwide rules for the transport of dangerous goods that seek to mitigate the risks involved but at the same time facilitate cross-border trade.
Under the ‘umbrella’ of the UN (whose Sub-Committee on Transport of Dangerous Goods meets twice a year), several modal bodies exist for developing the rules into regulations for specific transport modes – mainly road, rail, sea and air. A network of committees (which meet either once or twice a year) has been set up for this purpose.
A significant part of the Teams’ work is concerned with briefing, advising and providing technical support to the UK delegations (usually made up of civil servants from the UK Department for Transport (DfT)) attending these meetings which can last for up to two weeks.
Reflecting Scientifics’ heritage, particular expertise within the Team relates to the transport of dangerous goods by rail. Members of the Team regularly attend the RID Committee of Experts meeting specifically for rail regulations (recently held in Zagreb) and what is known as the Joint Meeting, which deals with regulations relevant to both the road and rail modes. The location of the Joint Meeting alternates between Berne and Geneva.
Out of these regular meetings spring ad hoc working groups formed to address specific issues or topics of concern. Members of the Team regularly attend: -
- the BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) working group (recently held in Rome) charged with considering measures to prevent and mitigate these uncommon but potentially devastating incidents involving liquefied petroleum gas.
- A Telematics working group (recently held in Bordeaux) looking into the potential for telematics to facilitate and increase the safety and security of dangerous goods shipments.
- A Tank and Vehicle Technology (recently held in Berlin) working group looking into viability of fitting derailment detectors to rail wagons carrying certain dangerous goods
The importance of a well-briefed UK delegation’s participation in these various committees and working groups becomes clear when its realised that decisions taken at these meetings have a direct influence (through European Directives) on the future domestic UK legislation for the transport of dangerous goods.
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