The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004 (CDGTPE)

The CDGTPE Regulations 2004 apply to the carriage of dangerous goods by road and rail. They place general duties on everyone with a role in the carriage of dangerous goods, and specific duties on those in the transport chain, i.e. consignors, loaders, packers etc.

The Regulations refer to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road 2003 (ADR 2003) and Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail 2003 (RID 2003). The Regulations also implement a further Directive on transportable pressure equipment. They replace, by a single Statutory Instrument (SI), twelve previous SI’s that regulated carriage of dangerous goods by road and rail in Great Britain (GB).

The GB Regulations will only apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland have their own Regulations similar to the GB Regulations.

Changes in CDGTPE 2004

Under The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 1996 (CDGRoad) load limits were set out in Table 2 of Schedule 1 as follows:

These load limits changed under CDGTPE 2004 to the following:

It should be noted from this that the package size threshold of CDGRoad has been dropped and that now every container, regardless of size, will count towards the load size.

For example, previously under CDGRoad clinical waste of Transport Category 2 could be transported in rigid containers or in yellow clinical waste bags inside rigid containers (wheelie bins). Provided that each individual yellow bag or rigid container weighed less than 10kg the load size was not applicable as the package size in column two of the Table 2 (shown above) did not exceed the threshold to count towards the load size. Now, under CDGTPE all containers and yellow bags will count towards the load size.

Once the load size is reached there is a requirement to apply the Regulations in full, namely vehicles to bear orange plates front and rear. If the vehicle is over 3.5 tonnes (maximum permissible weight) then drivers will be required to be ADR trained etc…

Implications

Rigid containers transported on vehicles will have to be kept below the 333kg threshold to avoid orange plating the vehicles. If the vehicles require orange plates drivers will require "in-house" training provided their vehicle does not exceed 3.5 tonne (max. permissible weight), TREMcards, relevant PPE, emergency equipment etc as set out in ADR 2003 Chapter 8.1.5.

If the vehicle exceeds 3.5 tonnes then driver ADR training is required and the associated equipment/documentation as detailed above.

If transporting clinical waste in bulk the Regulations apply as soon as waste is placed on the vehicle. In this case four orange plates are required to be displayed – plain orange plate on the front of the vehicle and orange plates bearing 2X displayed over 3291 on both sides and the rear of the vehicle.

Vehicle Equipment

Vehicles will be required to ensure that all of the emergency equipment listed in ADR 2003 Chapter 8.1.5 is carried and is fully functional on vehicles with a maximum permissible weight greater than 3.5kg

This includes wheel chocks, warning markers, hi-viz vests, torch, TREMcard and relevant PPE, fire extinguishers (cab and load compartment).

Reports On Accidents and Incidents

If a serious incident occurs during the transportation of dangerous goods there is a need to comply with ADR Section 1.8.5.1 and report to the national authority, e.g. DfT in the UK. This relates to a transport related injury as a direct result of the carriage of the dangerous good itself.

ADR does not specify a time scale in which to submit this report, and the ‘new’ UK domestic regulations mirror ADR.

Please note that this is in addition to the requirement to report the incident under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

Future Changes

ADR 2003 has since been superceded by ADR 2005 that has been available since January 2005 but will only be implemented in July 2005. The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2005 are due to be released to coincide with the updated ADR text and reflect the changes in ADR 2005. The requirements of ADR will be extended to cover the following:

1. ADR training will become a requirement for drivers of all vehicles regardless of maximum permissible weight from July 2005 (transitional period until January 2007) if transporting dangerous goods over the load threshold values.

2. There will be an additional requirement for vehicles with a maximum permissible weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes to have an extra fire fighting (fire extinguisher) capacity of 4kg above that currently required e.g. fit a bigger fire extinguisher.

3. In response to 11th September 2001 the United Nations introduced an enhanced requirement for security of dangerous goods being transported. The new security measures apply to all dangerous goods, except those that are nuclear. The requirements are split into two:

- A general level applicable to all dangerous goods; and

- A higher level for the carriage of high consequence dangerous goods.

With regard to Class 6.2, Infectious Substances, high consequence dangerous goods are those of Category A, clinical waste is to fall within the general level of security.

The measures required to comply with this include:

- carriers to be properly identified,

- transit sites that contain dangerous goods to be made secure,

- security training to be provided and general security awareness to be raised,

- for high consequence dangerous goods a security plan to be put in place.