Page 13 - Horizon Han22

The North East's very own "007" danger-man explains why your Dangerous Goods are safe in his hands
Igained my operational and planning skills in the Army, over more than 20 years.
I learned to doing things properly for an organisation that always does things properly - something which is essential in the shipping of thousands of tons of military explosives by road, rail and sea to
explosives by road, rail and sea to, within and
List of Military Explosives and this was the first time I’d seen any reference to the UN’s from many parts of the world.
system of hazard and compatibility
I left the Army 32 years ago and remember
grouping, which I knew had been adopted by my biggest disappointment was to find "Civvy
IMCO and NATO and was under
St" had no equivalent to the training, skills
consideration by other international
and dedication I'd learned in the Army. I
regulations such as RID, ADR and IATA. found the Army had the benefit of filling
positions with well-trained, capable people
In 1976, for ease of reference, I remember who did their jobs very well and then became
adding the Belgian Shipping and RID
trainers themselves, thus retaining the
classifications to my copy of the list, as at knowledge and expertise gained by many
the time I was stationed in Belgium and
over the years. Civvy St, on the other hand,
responsible for moving goods off ships and tended to lose this expertise as the
on to Germany via the Netherlands or vice workforce moved on, or retired.
versa. I had to comply with RID, ADR, IMCO, Belgian and British Regulations, all at the same time.
In 1974 the Explosives Storage and Transport
Committee (ESTC) of the Ministry of Defence
published a revised Classification
Fortunately, harmonisation has been ongoing continuously since then and even though the UN system has now been adopted worldwide for over 30 years by all modal regulations, revisions are still necessary to account for advances in technology, both in dangerous goods and in the supply chain.
Many changes have taken place over the years but what has remained fairly constant is the requirement for packaging, marking, labelling, placarding and documentation to be done correctly and accurately.
Our reporter recently spoke to Origma Global's John Christal and found out how over 50 years of experience has made him the man you can trust to help you move your dangerous goods safely.
In John's words ..
13. Dangerous Goods
Horizon issue 2.indd 13 14/12/2022 14:49:08