Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 No. 34

Regulation 8

SCHEDULE 7 Amendments to the Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

1.  In regulation 1(6)(b), the words “, other than in a tank” shall be omitted.

2.  In regulation 2—

(a) in paragraph (1), for the words “paragraphs (2) and (3)” there shall be substituted the words “paragraphs (2) to (7)”;

(b) at the end, there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(5) These Regulations shall not apply to, or in relation to, the carriage of radioactive material—

(a) by, or under the supervision of, the emergency services;

(b) as a result of an emergency, with the intention of saving human life or protecting the environment, provided that all measures are taken to ensure that such carriage is carried out safely.

(6) These Regulations do not apply to, or in relation to—

(a) the carriage of luminous devices worn by a person or luminous devices as part of a railway vehicle;

(b) the carriage in any one railway vehicle of no more than 500 smoke detectors for domestic use with an individual activity not exceeding 40 kBq; or

(c) the carriage of gaseous tritium light devices with an individual activity not exceeding 10 GBq when no more than five such devices are carried in the railway vehicle.

(7) These Regulations shall not apply to, or in relation to, the carriage of radioactive material in packages where—

(a) the carriage is by any person whose main activity is not the carriage of dangerous goods;

(b) the carriage is for the purpose of—

(i) survey, repair or maintenance activities, or

(ii) deliveries to building or civil engineering sites; and

(c) each such package is an excepted package.”.

3.  At the end of regulation 3, there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(3) Where the Executive approves a revision referred to in paragraph (2), during the period between the publication by the Executive of a notice specifying that revision and the date on which that revision takes effect a person may comply with the requirements of these Regulations as if any reference to the Approved Document were a reference to—

(a) the Approved Document prior to that revision; or

(b) the Approved Document as revised.”.

4.  At the end of regulation 18, there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(3) An operator of any large freight container shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any radioactive material in packages 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.

(4) An operator of any large freight 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 radioactive material in packages 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).

(5) 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 radioactive material in packages unless that container complies with the requirements of those International Union of Railways UIC leaflets particularised in paragraph (6).

(6) The leaflets referred to in paragraph (5) 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).

(7) An operator of any large freight container shall not cause or permit to be carried therein any radioactive material in packages unless the requirements specified in Schedule 10A are complied with.

(8) 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 radioactive material in packages 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).

(9) 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.”.

5.  In regulation 21—

(a) in paragraph (a), for the words “combustible solids, liquids or gases” there shall be substituted the words “liquids, gases or combustible solids”;

(b) at the end of paragraph (b), there shall be inserted the words “in industrial packages or unpackaged”.

6.  At the end of regulation 24, there shall be inserted the words “or to the packaging requirements of excepted packages of the type referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of the definition in regulation 1(2) of ‘excepted package' ”.

7.  In regulation 27(2)(b) and (3)(a), after the words “ensure that” there shall be inserted the words “, under conditions likely to be encountered in routine carriage,”.

8.  In regulation 38(2), for the word “The” where it first appears there shall be substituted the word “Any” and for the word “their” there shall be substituted the word “his”.

9.  In paragraph (2) of regulation 41, for the words from “it is satisfied” to the end of the paragraph there shall be substituted the words “it is satisfied that neither the health and safety of persons who are likely to be affected by the exemption nor the environment will be prejudiced in consequence of it”.

10.  In regulation 43(2)(c), for the word “Organisation” there shall be substituted the word “Organization”.

11.  After Schedule 10, there shall be inserted the following Schedule—

“SCHEDULE 10A Regulation 18(7) Suitability of Large Containers

1.   Large containers used for the carriage of radioactive material in packages shall be structurally serviceable and free from unacceptable deterioration in any component.

2.   In this Schedule—

• “major defects” means—

  (a)

  dents or bends, greater than 19mm in depth regardless of length, in structural members;

  (b)

  cracks or breaks in structural members;

  (c)

  more than one splice or an improper splice, such as a lapped splice, in top or bottom end rails or door headers;

  (d)

  more than two splices in any one top or bottom side rail;

  (e)

  any splice in a door sill or corner post;

  (f)

  door hinges and hardware that are seized, twisted, broken, missing or otherwise inoperative;

  (g)

  non-closing gaskets and seals;

  (h)

  any distortion of the overall configuration sufficient to prevent proper alignment of handling equipment, mounting and securing on a chassis or wagon;

• “structurally serviceable” means free from major defects in its structural components including top and bottom side rails, top and bottom end rails, door sill and header, floor cross members, corner posts and corner fittings; and

• “unacceptable deterioration in any component” includes rusted metal in sidewalls or disintegrated fibreglass, regardless of the material or construction, but does not include normal wear (including oxidization (rust), slight dents, scratches, and other damage that does not affect serviceability or weather-tightness).”.

12.  In Part II of Schedule 13—

(a) for paragraph 13, there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“13.— (1) Danger signs conforming to figure 2, 3 or 4 in Part III, according to the appropriate category, shall be displayed on each freight container, tank container and tank wagon which is being used for the carriage of radioactive material, other than in the form of excepted packages.

(2) The danger signs referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall—

(a) be affixed to—

(i) each side, and at the rear and front of the freight container or tank container, or

(ii) each side of the tank wagon;

(b) be affixed in a vertical plane; and

(c) be clearly visible.”;

(b) after paragraph 13, there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“13A.— (1) Danger signs conforming to figure 5 in Part III shall be displayed on each wagon which is being used for the carriage of radioactive material, other than in the form of excepted packages.

(2) The danger signs referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall—

(a) be affixed to each side of the wagon;

(b) be affixed in a vertical plane; and

(c) be clearly visible.”;

(c) in paragraph 14(5)—

(i) for the words “freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon” in the first place in which they occur there shall be substituted the words “freight container, tank container or tank wagon”, and

(ii) for the words “the freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon concerned” there shall be substituted the words “a freight container”;

(d) in paragraph 15—

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), for the words “, tank wagon or wagon” there shall be substituted the words “or tank wagon”, and

(ii) for sub-paragraph (2), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(2) The danger signs referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall—

(a) be affixed to—

(i) each side, and at the rear and front of the freight container or tank container, or

(ii) each side of the tank wagon;

(b) be affixed in a vertical plane; and

(c) be clearly visible.”;

(e) in paragraph 16, for the words “paragraph 15” there shall be substituted the words “paragraph 13A or 15”;

(f) in paragraph 17, for the words “, tank wagon or wagon” there shall be substituted the words “or tank wagon”; and

(g) in paragraph 18—

(i) in sub-paragraph (a), for the words “paragraph 15” there shall be substituted the words “paragraph 13A or 15”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (b)(i), for the words “paragraph 13” there shall be substituted the words “paragraph 13 or 13A”, and

(iii) in sub-paragraph (b)(ii), the words “and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon” shall be omitted.

15.  In Part III of Schedule 13, for figures 2 to 5 there shall be substituted the following figures—

“Fig. 2. Category I-WHITE label

The background colour of the label shall be white, the colour of the trefoil and the printing shall be black, and the colour of the category bar shall be red.

Fig. 3. Category II-YELLOW label

The background colour of the upper half of the label shall be yellow and of the lower half white, the colour of the trefoil and the printing shall be black, and the colour of the category bars shall be red.

Fig. 4. Category III-YELLOW label

The background colour of the upper half of the label shall be yellow and of the lower half white, the colour of the trefoil and the printing shall be black, and the colour of the category bars shall be red.

Fig. 5. Placard

Minimum dimensions are given: when larger dimensions are used the relative proportions must be maintained. The figure “7” shall not be less than 25 mm high. The background colour of the upper half of the placard shall be yellow and the lower half white, the colour of the trefoil and the printing shall be black. The use of the word “RADIOACTIVE” in the bottom half is optional to allow the alternative use of this placard to display the appropriate United Nations number for the consignment.”.

16.  For sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 2 of Schedule 14 there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraphs—

“(a) the words “RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL, EXCEPTED PACKAGE”;

(b) the UN number and Proper Shipping Name for the radioactive material, as specified in paragraph 20 of the Approved Document;

(c) the name and address of the consignor; and

(d) the name and address of the consignee.”.