Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002

7.  After regulation 8(4) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(5) An operator of any large container shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any dangerous goods unless before that container is loaded it is checked to ensure that—

(a) it is free from any residue of a previous load; and

(b) the interior floor and walls are free from protrusions.

(6) An operator of any large container which has corner fittings for the purpose of securing or handling it and which is of a size such that the area enclosed by the outer bottom corners is either—

(a) if the container is fitted with top corner fittings, at least 7 square metres; or

(b) in any other case, at least 14 square metres,

shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any dangerous goods unless that container complies with the requirements of the International Convention for Safe Containers 1972 signed at Geneva on 2nd December 1972 and ratified by the United Kingdom on 8th March 1978 (published by the International Maritime Organization, 4th Edition, 1996).

(7) An operator of any large container which—

(a) is 6 or more metres long; or

(b) is—

(i) 2·991 metres long, and

(ii) 2·438, 2·5 or 2·6 metres wide,

shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any dangerous goods unless that container complies with the requirements of those International Union of Railways UIC leaflets particularised in paragraph (8).

(8) The leaflets referred to in paragraph (7) are—

(a) 590—10th edition, 1st January 1979 (as amended on 1st July 1979, and in 1981, 1985 and 1994 and updated on 1st January 1989);

(b) 592-2—5th edition of 1st July 1996;

(c) 592-3—2nd edition, 1st January 1998; and

(d) 592-4—1st edition, 1985 (as amended in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1995 and reprinted on 1st July 1995).

(9) An operator of any large container shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any dangerous goods unless the requirements specified in Schedule 3A are complied with.

(10) An operator of any tank container which has corner fittings for the purpose of securing or handling it and which is of a size such that the area enclosed by the outer bottom corners is either—

(a) if the container is fitted with top corner fittings, at least 7 square metres; or

(b) in any other case, at least 14 square metres,

shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any dangerous goods unless the frame of that tank container complies with the requirements of the International Convention for Safe Containers 1972 signed at Geneva on 2nd December 1972 and ratified by the United Kingdom on 8th March 1978 (published by the International Maritime Organization, 4th edition, 1996).

(11) In this regulation, “corner fittings” means an arrangement of apertures and faces at either the top or the bottom or both at the top and the bottom of the container for the purposes of handling, stacking and securing or any of those purposes.”.