Accidents involving the transport of dangerous goods by road claimed the lives of more than 400 people in 2019.And according to dangerous goods consultant Michael Joyce, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of harmonisation of regulations. “For sea and air transport there are largely common regulations throughout the world led by the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) code for sea transport and the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) and International Air Transport Association (Iata) technical instructions for air transport. These regulations effectively apply to all countries around the world.” It is, however, when dangerous goods are transported by road that discrepancies occur.“This is because different regulations are applied across different regions, countries and continents. “In some cases different variations of the same regulation are applied which just complicates matters further,” said Joyce. Speaking at a conference hosted by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, he said there was a need for greater harmonisation of regulations for the transport of dangerous goods by road.“While many of the regulations are based either on the United Nations Model Regulations, commonly known as the orange book, or the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), the significant variations are a problem.” He said in Africa it was particularly concerning as a disproportionate number of people had died in 2019 in accidents involving road transport of dangerous goods. With no comprehensive, central source of information on these accidents, Joyce used data published monthly in the Hazardous Cargo Bulletin to analyse the number of incidents in 2019. He said it was important to stress that the analysis was done only on information available and by no means gave a complete picture of all the incidents as the numbers were, in all probability, underreported. “Our research indicated that a total of 441 people died in 2019. Of these deaths 345 were in Africa, an absolutely disproportionate number, and to a lesser extent in Asia where 69 deaths occurred.” He said there were far fewer deaths in Europe and the Americas with no people dying in any incidents in Australia and New Zealand.“It clearly shows that most of the fatalities occur in regions where there are lower or no levels of regulation,” he said. “There have been some attempts to address safety in some of these regions. South Africa, for example, has introduced its own regulations while Nigeria recently acceded to A DR .” But, said Joyce, there was still too little harmonisation. “It is simply not acceptable that so many lives are lost. While countries should ideally adopt one of the existing regulatory systems, the fact remains that we need more harmonised regulation globally. We should aspire to having a single set of regulations by road as there are for sea and air transport.” He said fragmentation of regulations not only caused confusion but also made enforcement difficult.
INSERT: "One of the biggest challenges is the lack of harmonisation of regulations." – Michael Joyce
