News bulletin – safety

NEWS BULLETIN

SAFETY

UPS IN THE DOCK

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $120,000 civil penalty against UPS for alleged violations of the Hazardous Materials Regulations. FAA alleges that UPS offered for carriage for transport by air a shipment of damaged lithium batteries that were loosely packed and had no protection against short circuit. The shipment by UPS Airlines from Ontario, California to the UPS hub in Louisville, Kentucky was discovered by UPS personnel in Louisville on 15 November 2018.

FAA alleges the shipment was not properly packaged, was not accompanied by a Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods, and was not properly described, marked or labelled to indicate the hazardous nature of its contents. FAA also alleges UPS failed to include emergency response information with the shipment. www.faa.gov

BLOCKCHAIN FOR DG

Exis Technologies has entered into a collaborative agreement with Maritime Blockchain Labs (MBL), a consortium founded by BLOC and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) to explore the use of blockchain in tackling the significant risks and challenges associated with the declaration and handling of dangerous goods. Exis will be using its industry experience to help MBL with the build and test of a demo prototype to assess the potential for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the maritime supply chain.

“We are excited to have Exis Technologies collaborating with us on this project,” says Katrina Abhold, project manager at BLOC. “The experience Exis has in dangerous goods shipping and its solutions like Hazcheck Systems will be a great addition to our consortium. It will be interesting to find out how such combined technologies can be applied in a new way to help address this ongoing issue in the shipping sector.” www.existec.com

BETTER TOGETHER IN THE UK

The British Association of Dangerous Goods Professionals (BADGP) and the Chemical Hazards Communication Society (CHCS) have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see the two organisations work more closely together and share information, experience and materials.

In the first instance, a number of free places at BADGP’s AGM and seminar on 12 March have been made available to CHCS members, and a reciprocal arrangement is available for BADGP members to attend CHCS’s AGM and lectures on 25 November. More information can be found on the CHCS website at https://chcs.org.uk/badgp.

CONSAFE ADDS SUPPORT

Consafe Logistics has struck a partnership deal with DGOffice, to provide dangerous goodsspecific support through its Astro WMS® system. Users will now be able to benefit from the knowledge and experience offered by DGOffice and the innovative software solutions it provides.

“We looked at the customer requirements, the processes in place and combined that with the knowledge of both our companies,” says Herman Teering, managing director of DGOffice. “This teamwork with Consafe Logistics resulted in a fully integrated solution in Astro WMS that delivers continued compliance, guidance and convenience for the end users without additional workload.”

“We know that many customers experience difficulties when handling dangerous goods, especially when it comes to applying the regulations in the existing warehouse processes. Often it needs to be managed manually without good system support in a separate flow,” says Patrik Olsson, Chief Product Officer at Consafe Logistics. “Regulations often change too, and vary from country to country. If customers don’t have the right documentation, carriers can refuse to transport goods altogether. By developing our module alongside DGOffice, we solve these problems.”

The solution works as an add-on for existing Astro WMS users and offers a range of benefits for those who handle and transport dangerous goods. These include constantly updated documentation and information on regulations, as well as automatic labelling, documentation and packaging instructions. www.consafelogistics.com