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© 2001 FleetWatch magazine and FleetWatch On-Line.
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A man visits the doctor. He's got a carrot stuck in one ear, a baby marrow in the other, spinach hanging from one nostril and a string bean up the other: "Doctor!" he says, "what's wrong with me?" The doctor replies: "It's obvious. You're not eating properly."
While this joke in no way attempts to trivialize what is a very serious issue - the state of Dangerous Goods (DG) transport in South Africa - it does serve to highlight the confusion and ignorance characterizing DG truck transport at present. We have all the 'greens' (world-leading DG legislation) at our disposal, but what with the all-too-frequent changes in legislation, there's a whole lot of misapplication among DG transporters, consignors, consignees and law enforcers, who are unsure of how to apply the regulations effectively. FleetWatch invited DG guru Keith McMurray to 'unscramble' current DG legislation.
South Africa's Dangerous Goods legislation has undergone major surgery during the last twelve months, with the promulgation of new design criteria for all heavy vehicles transporting dangerous goods, updated operational codes and the imminent publication of a revised emergency information code.
Similar but different
Unfortunately, despite the warning issued at the legislation workshop of 2005 and the publication of the
FleetWatch DG report last year, the operational code was published in isolation of the emergency information code. This has resulted in the duplication of information in the codes which is similar but differs in terms of content. The National Department of Transport has acknowledged the problem created by Section 76(4) of the NRTA 93/96 which indicates that if any standard is at any time after the incorporation thereof in the regulations amended or replaced then that standard is deemed to refer to the standard as so amended or replaced. This means that any changes are immediately law and do not facilitate an effective date or phase-in period.
New tanker design codes
This above situation has been particularly problematic with the publication of the new design criteria for all heavy vehicles transporting dangerous goods in that the design requirements have been amended on two occasions since the initial promulgation in 2001.
SABS 1518 and SABS 1398 were the design codes for bulk tankers originally incorporated when the legislation was promulgated. These codes applied if a vehicle to which they applied was registered for the first time on or after 1 October 2001.
The above codes were replaced with SANS 1518 Part 1 and Part 2 in March 2004. Problem with this requirement was the fact that Part 1 covered requirements for all heavy vehicles transporting dangerous goods, which included packaged goods vehicles, which were not subject to requirements before the publication. No effective date was published, so the probability exists that the majority of packaged goods vehicles, above 3500 GVM, transporting dangerous goods are not compliant with the design requirements.
To compound the problem SANS 1518 Part 1 and Part 2 were replaced in December 2005 with one document, accepting the ADR (European agreement covering the international carriage of dangerous goods by road) requirements as our local minimum requirements for the design of dangerous goods road vehicles and portable tanks. Again, no effective date or phase-in period was announced.
In an attempt to resolve the problem, relevant industries, representing the major players, have appealed to the National Department of Transport to announce an effective date of June 2007 for the implementation of SANS 1518-2005 and couple this with a moratorium on design criteria in terms of the existing legislation until that date. At the time of writing no directive had been issued by the department.
Wider culpability loop
SANS 10231 published in April 2006 incorporates new and changed responsibilities for the relevant parties listed in the code some of which are explained below.
The consignor of dangerous goods, defined in the Act as the person who offers goods for transportation, has been subject to additional description beyond just the traditional manufacturer of the goods, in that the consignor can also be the product custodian, product owner, or the party that contracts the operator.
Tasks completed at the loading and offloading points, when transporting dangerous goods, have to be performed by person's who have been specifically trained to perform the tasks. The code introduces a dangerous goods loading/ offloading supervisor who will supervise the qualified person's responsible for the loading and or offloading.
New 'paper' rules
Vehicle inspection requirements, previously contained in SABS 0230, have been incorporated in SANS 10231 as have emergency information such as compatibility tables, exempt quantities and multiload factors. The term "multiload" has been changed to "mixed load". In order to prevent the requirement for placard changes the terms are synonymous and both may be used until amended in National Legislation.
The code introduces the new South African transport emergency card, in terms of SANS 10232-4, called a TREC. Discussion has taken place on the validity of the TREC, but the publication of SANS 10231 has legalized the use of the TREC as an alternate to the CEFIC tremcard.
An additional document in the form of a container packing certificate, specifying the container identifying number and certifying that the packing has been carried out under certain conditions will be required when freight containers are used for the transportation of dangerous goods. The certificate will be stored in the designated space with the dangerous goods declaration and the tremcards or trec.
Consignors will be required to retain a copy of the dangerous goods declaration for a period of 90 days after the date of shipment, if no incident is reported. If an incident is reported the declaration shall be retained for the duration of the relevant investigation. The format of the declaration has also been altered to include new consignor descriptions and an additional declaration by the driver.
Rig affairs
Amendments to the RTA now state that the driver shall not allow any passengers or unauthorized persons to be in or on a vehicle at any stage during the journey while transporting dangerous goods.
Insurance required by the operator is no longer described as "adequate insurance", but the operator shall ensure that insurance, based on the hazard and risk of the goods or substances transported, covers civil liability, recovery and rehabilitation costs.
Special provisions pertaining to specific classified substances are included in the code and these provisions must be considered during the loading procedure and transportation of dangerous goods.
Concessions and waivers
The code includes an additional exemption that has been given to bona fide farmers and their employees, who need to carry DG, provided they comply with certain distance, load mass/volume and route restrictions.
Operational agreements are no longer a statutory requirement, but written operational agreements or arrangements to cover the loading, transportation and offloading may be concluded by the responsible parties listed on the dangerous goods declaration, to confirm accepted duties and responsibilities, if deemed necessary by any of the relevant parties.
Although SANS 10231 has been published, and in terms of Section 76(4) is law at the time of writing, discussion has taken place with the National Department of Transport and the department has indicated the possibility of the recall of the code until the publication of SANS 10232-1. Relevant parties are therefore warned to check the status of the code before re-acting to the indicated amendments.
The old bugs again
Regulation 117(e) of the Act indicates that drivers of heavy vehicles applying for a professional driving permit category "D", will, from a date to be determined by the Minister, need to hold a training certificate in terms of Regulation 280 of the Act. At the time of writing, this date is yet to be determined, basically due to lack of accredited service providers to facilitate the training. This situation has been aggravated by the new requirement in SANS 10231 for annual refresher training for drivers to be completed by accredited providers, thus placing an additional strain on the training of drivers every 12 months. Given that the Minister cannot determine a date to accommodate training every 24 months, one is tempted to question the wisdom of this requirement.
Where's the DG cop?
Again we need to ask - Where is the Dangerous Goods Inspectorate? This legislation was promulgated in 2001 and still we have no inspectorate operating. Traffic Officers are enforcing, in certain areas, but this enforcement concentrates on operator registration, placarding and documentation.
A number of costly incidents involving classified goods and substances have taken place in the last four years. How many prosecutions have resulted in terms of contraventions of Chapter VIII of the National Road Traffic Act 93/96?
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