Transport Canada (TC) has amended the reporting requirements found in PART 8 of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) Regulations for incidents involving Dangerous Goods Shipments in a Canada Gazette II issued June 1, 2016.
The amendments change the focus of TC’s reporting requirements for releases or anticipated releases of dangerous goods from a simple volume based approach to a circumstantial – outcome based reporting system that will provide TC better information on incidents involving Dangerous Goods. They also bring into regulation specific security requirements for reporting specified lost or stolen dangerous goods.
There will be a six-month transition period to the new requirements. During this time carriers can comply with either the new reporting requirements or the requirements in Part 8 prior to the June 1, 2016 amendments. By December 1, 2016 carriers required to report incidents involving Dangerous Goods must follow the new reporting structure.
Feedback to this regulatory development was provided by industry and first responders over the course of the last 36 months, including supportive feedback from CTA carriers.
Although similar to what carriers are already doing, TC has introduced some new terminology for the reporting structure and reporting requirements for trucking to CANUTEC should the outcomes of Dangerous Goods Incidents meet very specific criteria. Below is list of the new reporting structure and associated sections of the TDG Regulations:
- Emergency Report – Road, Rail or Marine Transport (Section 8.2 of the TDGR)
- Report of a Release or Anticipated Release – Road, Rail or Marine Transport (Section 8.4 of the TDGR)
- 30-Day Follow-Up Report (Section 8.6 of the TDGR)
- Loss or Theft Report (Section 8.16 of the TDGR)
- Unlawful Interference Report (Section 8.18 of the TDGR)
TC has developed a Guidebook for Reporting Dangerous Goods Incidents (attached) to assist carriers in transitioning to the new reporting requirements that complement and clarify the intent of the regulatory text. Also provided is a standardized form that may be used voluntarily to complete the 30-day follow up report (attached). It is strongly recommend carriers fully review the Guidebook for Reporting Dangerous Goods Incidents prepared by TC as it outlines the full intent of the regulatory amendments which may not be gleaned from simply reviewing the new regulatory text in PART 8. A key message for carriers is that newly defined emergency reports should be made if the incidents involving release or anticipated release of Dangerous Goods endangers, or could endanger public safety AND exceeds the quantities specified by TC in the Table provide in Section 8.2 of the TDG regulations.
Full details of the PART 8 amendments in Canada Gazette II please click here.
With the amendments just released, information on Transport Canada’s website will be updated shortly as will PART 8 of the Regulations available online. CTA will be reviewing the Guidebook provided by TC and should additional revisions to the Guidebook be necessary to assist the industry during this transition and beyond those suggestions will be forwarded to TC. CTA members wishing to provide additional input on the TC Guidebook can email – part8tdgfeedback@184.107.41.75
In addition to the outreach materials provide to date, CTA will be working with TC over the coming months to schedule webinars in both English and French to highlight the specific areas of the regulations important to trucking. CTA’s Transporting Dangerous Goods Handbook by Truck will also be updated at its next printing with the updated PART 8 requirements.
For an itemized list of the amendments (not all applying to trucking), please see below:
- New definition of Release;
- Amendments to reporting requirements to introduce circumstances under which a report is required;
- Exceptions where the reporting obligation does not apply;
- Introduction of an Emergency Report – Road, Rail or Marine;
- New reporting requirements for a Release or Anticipated Release Report – Road, Rail or Marine (previously called an Immediate Report);
- Introduction of a Release or Anticipated Release Report – Road, Rail or Marine;
- New reporting requirements for a Dangerous Goods Accident or Incident Report – Air to harmonize with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) reporting requirements;
- Introduction of an Undeclared or Misdeclared Dangerous Goods Report by air to harmonize with ICAO reporting requirements;
- Introduction of reporting of the loss or theft of dangerous goods;
- Introduction of reporting of unlawful interference with dangerous goods;
- A ban on the transport of lithium ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft and the introduction of additional requirements for the transport of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries for transport on cargo aircraft. These particular amendments will bring the requirements of Protective Direction 35 into the regulations and once the regulations come into force the Protective Direction will be repealed; and,
- Minor corrections to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations.
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