A follow-up question from one of my recent Onsite Training customers (11.18.16):

Hello Daniel,

Can you please confirm that a Limited Quantity Air Shipment can go in a non-specification package?

Thank you,

My reply that same day:

Correct.

It is recognized that many dangerous goods can be safely carried in good quality combination packagings which meet the construction requirements of Subsections 6.1 & 6.2 but which have not been marked and tested in accordance with the requirements of 6.0.4.

The transportation of a hazardous material (aka: dangerous good) by air – even within the U.S. – will likely be subject to the regulations of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).  These regulations are authorized for use within the U.S. by PHMSA/USDOT (at least, the technical instructions of the International Civil Aviation Administration are authorized for use by PHMSA/USDOT and since the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations are very similar to the ICAO technical instructions and are even a little bit more strict, compliance with IATA results in compliance with ICAO and PHMSA/USDOT.  Got it?) and are adhered to by most of the world’s airlines.

Questions like this arise because, while similar in many ways – the regulations of IATA and PHMSA/USDOT differ in several key areas.

Contact me if you have questions about how to ship HazMat by air, highway, rail, or vessel.

October 19, 2016. An email from someone within the regulated community:

40# Jerricans are placed in an enclosure. The enclosure consists of 4 walls 4′ high 4’across and 4′ wide. The walls can be disassembled from around the Jerricans. Would walls that can be disassembled from around these packages be considered a container, package, or enclosure? Would this assembly be considered a container, package, or enclosure? Thank you.

Note:  Per 49 CFR 171.8, Jerrican means a metal or plastic packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section.

My reply that same day:

I will attempt to answer your question. Please see below.

• I assume the 40# Jerricans are the authorized packaging for a hazardous material, they meet the DOT specifications and are marked to show this, and have all the required HazMat labels and markings.
• If the above is true, then anything you use to enclose the jerricans meets the definition of an overpack. What you describe is acceptable as an overpack. You can read more about an overpack (and a salvage drum) in this article I wrote for New Pig: Salvage Packaging vs. Overpacks: What’s the difference?
• All HazMat labels and markings on the jerricans must be visible on the outside of the overpack along with the word “Overpack”. Labels and markings should appear on at least two opposing sides of the overpack.
• For the purposes of the USDOT regulations it would be considered an Overpack. Other terms (container, package, or enclosure, &etc.) don’t apply.

I hope this helps.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any other questions.

My answer appeared to satisfy him (10.22.16):

Thank you so much!

The use of an overpack in the transportation of hazardous materials should be a simple thing, but it isn’t.  Some of this is due to the confusion between the terms “overpack” and “salvage packaging”; a confusion I tried to clear-up in my above-referenced article.  Some is due to a hesitancy on the part of the shipper or reluctance on the part of the carrier to deal with this additional requirement of shipping a hazardous material.  Whatever your concern, contact me if you have any questions about the use of an overpack for the transportation of your hazardous materials.

An email, October 4, 2016:

Hi can you drive a water tanker in the usa…. Without a purged vehicle certificate ? if tanker is empty ?

My answer that same day:

I am not certain about what other regulations may apply in this case, e.g. those of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), though I doubt it.

SETIQ is the acronym for the Mexican Emergency Transportation System for the Chemical Industry.  It is a service of the National Association of Chemical Industries (ANIQ).

Contact information for SETIQ:

• In the Mexican Republic 24 hours/day:  01.800.00.214.00
• In Mexico City and the metropolitan area:  5559.1588
• Elsewhere: +52.55.5559.1588

Also in Mexico:

CENACOM:

• Toll free in the Mexican Republic:  01.800.00.413.00
• In Mexico City and the Metropolitan Area:  5128.0000
• Elsewhere:  01.55.5128.0000 Exts. 36469, 36470, 36471, 36472, 37807, 37808, 37809, 37810, 37811, 37812

CONASENUSA:

• Toll free in the Mexican Republic 24 hours/day, 365 days/year:  01.800.11.131.6

CHEMTREC is the acronym for the Chemical Transportation Emergency Center.  It is a 24-hour emergency response service that provides assistance in the handling of incidents involving hazardous materials (aka: dangerous goods).

Unfortunately, I am not able to display CHEMTREC’s contact information in this article as Daniels Training Services, Inc. is not a registered customer of CHEMTREC.  CHEMTREC only allows its registered customers to portray its phone number on the following:

1. Shipping Documents
2. Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
3. Product Packaging/Labeling
4. Hazard Communication Labels

CANUTEC is the acronym of the Canadian Transport Emergency Center. CANUTEC is operated by the Transport of Dangerous Good Directorate of Transport Canada (Canada’s version of the U.S. Department of Transportation). It provides a national bilingual (English and French) advisory service, including emergency response advise for incidents involving dangerous goods.
Contact information for CANUTEC is below:

• Call collect 24-hours/day:  613.996.6666
• By cellular phone in Canada only:  *666
• For non-emergency inquiries 24-hours/day:  613.992.4624

If you are a generator of hazardous you have likely heard of the new Generator Improvements Rule and may be curious about its potential impact on your responsibilities as a hazardous waste generator under the federal regulations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and those of your state. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief summary of this new rule and to provide links to other sources of information and articles I have written containing more in-depth explanations of individual components of the new rule. Be sure to check back frequently as this information is updated. (more…)

Effective at the federal level – and in those state with an authorized hazardous waste program – on May 30, 2017, the Generator Improvements Rule has a lot of goals. Among them is this one:

Reorganize the regulations to make them more user-friendly and thus enable improved compliance by the regulated community.

The reasoning seems to be: If you make it easier to find, they will comply. If you’re familiar with the Federal hazardous waste generator regulations you might have wondered – as I have – why the provisions for a Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG) (now a Very Small Quantity Generator (VSQG) thanks to the same Generator Improvements Rule) were found way over in part 261 when the regulations applicable to a Large Quantity Generator (LQG) and Small Quantity Generator (SQG) (both kept their names) are found in part 262? Well, wonder no more! The new rule fixes that and a few others. The table below displays the provision changed, it’s position as of 05.30.17 and its current position in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

It took USEPA a little longer, but in January of 2021 it issued a Crosswalk of Previous Regulations to Reorganized Regulations for the Generator Improvements Rule.

Though years in the making, the changes to the Federal regulations are relatively simple compared to the changes some states will have to make to their regulations in order to maintain alignment with those of the USEPA. An example shown below is California, whose California Code of Regulations – though much more strict than the Federal rule in many regards – uses the USEPA’s regulatory structure as a template for its own.

And California is not the only one! Many other states (maybe yours!) either reference the existing federal regulations changed by the new rule and/or use them as a template for their own regulations.  What will be their response?

If you have a question about the new Generator Improvements Rule and how it might impact you in your state, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Well, maybe this question is “Frequently Asked” but I found this data in a presentation created by the US Environmental Protection Agency and thought it might be of interest to all of you.  Below is tabulated according to generator type of the number of hazardous waste generators, the amount of hazardous waste they generate, and the percent of total amount of hazardous waste generated it represents.

A unique situation.  One where I assist a company provide a service to its customers who wish to purchase packaging for the transport of their waste or other hazardous materials.  I’m the guy the supplier contacts when they are unsure of the needs of their customers.  Sometimes, as in this case, I provide additional consulting services to the supplier’s customer.  It all started on December 13, 2016…

Hi Daniel

Our customer has a 55 gallon drum filled with crushed #10 paint cans. He said it is not considered hazardous, but has the same question if it were. He wants to know if there is a limit to the amount he can ship in a 55 gallon drum, other than the rating in kg listed on the drum.

The drum he is looking at is rated UN 1A2/x430/s.

I am guessing you might have more questions!

Thanks!

My reply that same day to the supplier (my customer) and the person with the question (the supplier’s customer):

If the material to be shipped is not a hazardous material (crushed paint cans with no free liquids are not a hazardous material), then none of the Hazardous Material Regulations of the USDOT apply.  This includes the need for DOT specification packaging.