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HELP ON HAND TECHNICAL • THE REGULATORS ARE BACK AT WORK AND, ITCO SAYS, TANK CONTAINER OPERATORS NEED TO BE ALERT TO A NUMBER OF PROPOSALS THAT COULD HAVE AN IMPACT
In addition, the 2017 edition of ITCO’s Acceptable Container Condition (ACC) document is currently undergoing an editorial update; there will be no changes to the ACC criteria but some updates will be made to the formatting and text. Members are invited to provide input.
BUSINESS GOES ON despite the Covid-19 crisis and, as ever, it continuously raises new questions, problems and issues. Trade associations, who aim to keep their members up to speed with developments and offer them solutions and advice, are, though, hampered by travel restrictions and other measures aimed at keeping the pandemic at bay. As a result, they have had to turn to innovative methods to keep their members informed. The International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) is one such association that has had to cancel its planned meetings and seminars this year; in response, it has organised a series of brief webinars on topics of concern. The first of these, held this past
presented by its technical secretary Colin Rubery. He explained that ITCO has been doing a lot of work in this field, building up a library of technical guidance; this aims to be a reference point and checklist for use by members, especially when dealing with their clients, who may not fully appreciate all the details of tank containers. That library now contains guidance on the transport of polymerising substances, sampling from tank containers, pressure-relief devices, working on top of tanks, safe entry into tank containers, and the ADR-RID Tank Codes. Rubery also mentioned that a seventh guidance document is under consideration, to deal with end-of-life disposal and
REGULATORS AT WORK After the Covid-19 crisis caused the postponement or cancellation of regulatory meetings through the middle of 2020, the authorities have found means to continue to hold sessions in a virtual format, Rubery reported. So far it seems to be going pretty well, even to the point of raising questions as to whether the regulators will go back to holding their physical meetings in Geneva, Bern and elsewhere. So new regulations are being discussed and drafted and industry needs to be aware of what those changes might mean. Rubery urged ITCO members to get involved at the national level and engage with their national authorities; after all, while ITCO attends the meetings and has a voice, it is the national authorities that
September, looked at sustainability issues and, in particular, what the tank container industry can do to head off the threat to its business posed by single-use plastics bags – flexitanks (HCB October 2020, page 62). The second ITCO webinar was in effect a report from its Technical Working Group,
recycling of tank containers; once more, this is designed to highlight the recyclable nature of tank containers versus the disposable (and unsustainable) flexitank. ITCO is keen to hear from members on whether such a guidance document would be worthwhile and, if so, what it should contain.
have the votes that make the decisions. As it is, ITCO has had to step in to oppose a number of proposals that could have caused difficulties for its members. Rubery gave an example from the September session of the Joint Meeting of RID/ADR/ADN Experts, where a proposal was put forward to require
HCB MONTHLY | DECEMBER 2020
