UK P&I and Exis offer Hazcheck app to complement DG Guide relaunch

Dangerous goods have long been involved in serious transport incidents, onshore and at sea, resulting in deaths, injuries, massive rescue operations and huge commercial losses.

Typically, packages spill their contents and cause fires, explosions and toxic or corrosive gas releases. Dealing with such incidents is hard enough on land but at sea it can be almost impossible.

Containers may be badly packed and secured or house incompatible substances, with the potential hazard masked by poor marking and labelling and reinforced by inadequate or even false documentation. During loading, boxes may be inadequately secured and inappropriately positioned, relative to the contents of others nearby and their exposure to the elements and extreme seas.

However, every day, thousands of containers carrying dangerous goods are moved across the world’s oceans and the volume is likely to increase. With 16/18,000TEU merchant marine leviathans now coming increasingly into service, the risk of incidents and huge consequences creates even greater safety issues for everyone involved in the carriage of these goods.

Such considerations highlight the vital importance of complying with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code to avoid incidents and to reduce the consequences of those that do occur.

Accordingly, the UK P&I Club has revised and reissued the four booklets in its ‘Book it Right and Pack it Tight’ series. First produced eight years ago, these practical straightforward, well-illustrated, cross-referenced guides have been updated to embrace changes brought in by amendments to the Code.

The booklets explain how all those involved in particular stages of the logistics chain should follow the IMDG Code and work to its stipulations in preparing containerised shipments of packaged dangerous goods for carriage by sea. The second part of each booklet is a comprehensive guide to the Code itself.

The four guides, compiled by Richard Masters for the UK Club’s Carefully To Carry Committee, have benefited from advice and information from China Ocean Shipping Company, Evergreen Marine Corp, Exis Technologies Limited, Maersk Group, Malaysia International Shipping Company, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Orient Overseas Container Line and P&O Nedlloyd. They are designed for: ·

• Shippers and forwarders, who classify dangerous goods and prepare the documentation requested by shipping lines.
• Shipping line booking staff charged with receiving and checking the details of dangerous cargoes who have to ensure—as far as possible—that the information is comprehensive and accurate.
• Managers and supervisors of organisations which pack dangerous goods into shipping containers and conduct loading operations.
• Fork lift operators who work inside containers stacking, loading and securing dangerous goods—-and need to protect themselves.

The UK P&I Club and Exis Technologies are offering a free mobile app that complements the DG guides and provides quick and easy access to information in the IMDG Code Dangerous Good List (DGL).

Available for iPhone, Blackberry and android devices. To download your app, visit:  www.ukpandi.com/loss-prevention