Simple guidance


There are over 800 pages of the IMDG Code, so the details in the guidebooks are selective. Each topic has at least one reference to a part, chapter, section or sub- section of the main body of the IMDG Code text, taking the reader directly to the full details of that topic. The aim is to enable the reader to identify his key requirement in the guidebook, see an example of what is required, then if he needs more information easily locate full technical details in the Code, using the guidebooks as a chart.


Practical and accessible


The guidebooks are not intended as a replacement for the IMDG Code, but as everyday guides for ordinary operational staff to find their way around it. It is not intended that these guidebooks sit on bookshelves in the company library, but that they are issued as everyday operational guides on desks in the manufacturer’s shipping office, the freight booking office, the warehouse supervisor’s pocket, and the fork lift operator’s mess room.


With this in mind the guidebooks are robustly made to survive heavy handling and spiral bound so they open flat for photocopying.


Operational checklists


The books include three checklists, one for completing shippers declarations, one for identifying training requirements in container packing facilities, and one for packing containers.


Consolidator’s dangerous goods training and procedure checklist


This is a checklist to confirm that you have sound operating procedures.


Tick ✔ as appropriate:


Do you know who receives dangerous goods into your site?


Are they trained to check documentation and package marking?


Does anyone keep a record of dangerous goods on your site? Is the record kept up-to-date? Is the location recorded?


Do your personnel palletise/ re-package/shrink-wrap dangerous goods packages, or put put them into overpacks?


Have they been trained to mark and label the packages to IMDG rules?


Are shipping container load plans prepared?


Do you know who controls loading of dangerous goods into shipping containers?


Do they have access to the IMDG Code rules?


Have they been trained to understand IMDG Code segregation?


Do you know who supervises the loading of dangerous goods into shipping containers?


Do they have access to the IMDG Code rules?


Have they been trained to understand the IMDG Code?


Is anyone responsible for checking shipping containers before loading?


Have they been trained in what to check for?


Have fork lift operators been trained in IMDG Code segregation?


Have fork lift operators received training in loading dangerous goods and non-hazardous cargo into containers?


Is anyone responsible for ensuring that packages have been secured inside the shipping container?


Have they been trained to secure cargo?


Are timber, plywood sheet and securing materials available?


Are tools available for cutting timber and plywood sheets?


Are people trained to use them? Are container manifests prepared?


Are manifests checked to include all the dangerous goods?


Do you know who is responsible for applying hazard warning placards?


Have they been trained? Is the stock of placards adequate?


Are seals applied and seal numbers recorded?


Are packing certificates completed and signed?


Do you know who signs them?


Have they been trained and do they understand the legal significance of packing certificates?


Dangerous Goods is written by Richard Masters and was first produced as a supplement to LP News 18, March 2006


11


Serious purpose


Each book ends with a series of photographs of the fire aboard the Hanjin Pennsylvania, intended to graphically bring home to shore side people that even the most modern container ships are vulnerable to undeclared dangerous goods incorrectly and inaccessibly stowed below deck. The message is that the IMDG Code is not red tape, or pointless regulations, but a serious document whose sole purpose is to protect shipper’s cargo, ships and mariner’s lives.


Also in the training package:


● Four PowerPoint training presentations on CD


The guidebooks are supplied in a training package consisting of the four guidebooks in a slip case, and PowerPoint training presentations, one for each guidebook. The purpose of these is to enable company managers with only a passing knowledge of the IMDG Code to confidently introduce employees to key aspects of the IMDG Code, and the guidebooks themselves and how to use them.


● DVD


Also included is a DVD version of Any Fool Can Stuff a Container


The Club together with several Members has made a major commitment to ship safety by producing this package. We believe that the pack will be of great assistance to shippers and packers looking for practical IMDG Code guidance, and to shipping lines seeking a means to provide such assistance to their customers. Especially those operating in the developing regions beyond the reach of normal IMDG Code training, and newcomers to dangerous goods everywhere.


Ordering


Members may order copies of the above direct from the Club and non-members through Marisec Publications, www.marisec.org.


© Thomas Miller P&I Ltd 2005


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