ChemRegs Newsletter – July 2024
New Dangerous Goods Incident Reporting Requirements
The Department for Transport has published new guidance on their gov.uk website for freight companies that transport dangerous goods by road and rail who need to report an incident. The website also has a link to the online form that is to be used to report the incident.
The guidance states that if you are involved in the transport of dangerous goods you have a legal requirement to report any ‘serious’ incidents that happen during loading, filling, carriage or unloading. This applies to loaders, fillers, carriers, unloaders or consignees of dangerous goods.
Serious incidents also includes near misses involving the carriage of dangerous goods.
An incident is classed as ‘serious’ if any of the following result from it.
Injury or death
If someone dies as a result of the incident or they:
- are unable to work for at least 3 consecutive days
- have to stay in hospital for 1 day or more
- require intensive medical treatment
Material or environmental damage more than £50,000
Where the estimated amount of damage is more than £50,000. This does not include the cost of damage to the vehicle or the transport infrastructure, for example, the road surface.
Authorities involved
An incident is classed as serious if both of the following apply:
- the authorities or emergency services are involved
- people have to be evacuated or public traffic routes (roads/railways) have to be closed for at least 3 hours
Loss of product, or immediate risk of loss
You must report any incident involving infectious substances (class 6.2) or radioactive material (class 7). For other goods, the legal requirement to report depends on:
- the amount of dangerous goods involved
- the transport category that the goods are in
The loss of product criterion also applies if there was an imminent risk of loss of product in these quantities. As a rule, this has to be assumed if, owing to structural damage, the means of containment is no longer suitable for further carriage or if, for any other reason, a sufficient level of safety is no longer ensured (e.g. owing to distortion of tanks or containers, overturning of a tank or fire in the immediate vicinity).
Table showing the amount of dangerous goods required for each transport category
| Transport category | Amount of dangerous goods involved |
| Category 0 or 1 | 50 kilograms or 50 litres or more |
| Category 2 | 333 kilograms or 333 litres or more |
| Category 3 or 4 | 1,000 kilograms or 1,000 litres or more |
A table of transport categories for dangerous goods is also available from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.
Information needed to report includes:
- the location, date and time that the incident happened
- the dangerous goods that were involved
- what happened before, during and after the incident
- the address of the consignor of the dangerous goods
- any damage or injuries caused
There are separate forms to report a rail, aviation or maritime dangerous goods incident.
ADR 2025
The amendments to the Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) adopted in 2022, 2023 and 2024 by the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP.15) were notified to the ADR Contracting Parties on 1 July 2024.
These are due to enter into force on 1 January 2025.
The consolidated lists of amendments ECE/TRANS/WP.15/265 and Corr 1 and ECE/TRANS/WP.15/265/Add.1 contain the proposed changes. See our May 2024 newsletter for more information on these changes.
A revised edition of ADR including these amendments (ADR 2025) is in press and is expected in Autumn 2024. Printed versions and electronic editable versions will be available for sale once published and a free version will be available for download January 2025. Note – ADR 2023 will still be able to be used until June 2025.
IATA DGR 66th Edition 2025 and IMDG 42-24
The digital version of the next IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) (66th Edition, 2025) is due for release on 30th July 2024 and the standard bound edition (hard copy) in October 2024.
The IMDG Code, 2024 Edition (inc. Amendment 42-24) is due for publication in December 2024.
The current edition of the IMDG Code, 2022 Edition (inc. Amendment 41-22) came into force on 1 January 2024 and was able to be applied voluntarily as from 1 January 2023. It will be replaced by the IMDG Code, 2024 Edition (inc. Amendment 42-24), which comes into force on 1 January 2026 and may be applied voluntarily as from 1 January 2025. This means that in 2025, the new amendment (42-24) and the 41-22 edition are both valid.
For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk