[ RadSafe ] Enforcement of IATA/ICAO/IAEA "regulations"

Thu Mar 19 14:39:31 CDT 2009

That is an interesting topic.  I always taught that ICAO was the regulating body and if you ship HAZMAT using air transportation, you need to COMPLY, no question asked.

I agree that IATA is an Association and it is a practical way to find out what is accepted or not by air service providers, but I have always learned in my IATA trainings that ICAO was the regulatory body and that you could get fined under ICAO, not IATA.

I will be honest with you, I will have to read ICAO, as I am more familiar with IATA annual "bible".... 

Stéphane Jean-François, Eng., CHP, DGE
Environment and Heath Physics Manager
Merck Frosst Canada
514-428-8695

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Luke McCormick
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:39 PM
To: radcontrol at embarqmail.com; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Enforcement of IATA/ICAO/IAEA "regulations"

I have personally been audited twice by the FAA. We have made no commitments.  First was over a pressurized ion chamber I Fed Exed from a Houston hotel to Indy. The second was for a meter I shipped from Indy to the field. During the Indy audit I explained our whole way of shipping HAZMAT; from the initial and refresher training, through packaging, marking labeling, and manifesting. The inspectors in both cases were very satisfied and had no findingd 

Luke McCormick

UW Customs & Border Protection

> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:01:51 -0400
> From: radcontrol at embarqmail.com
> To: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Enforcement of IATA/ICAO/IAEA "regulations"
> 
> I was recently told by a respected colleague that he was aware of cases where USDOT and FAA inspectors had cited radioactive materials licensees for noncompliance with IATA/ICAO/IAEA "regulations." and had issued steep fines for the violations. I put the word "regulations" in quotations because these organizations are not regulatory agencies, but each issues what I would describe as "quasi-regs" because the IATA and the ICAO issue "instructions" on hazmat transportation that are followed by the airline industry and the IAEA "standards" are adopted by many foreign countries.
> 
> The specific "requirement" my colleague mentioned was the IATA/ICAO requirement for hazmat employee training to be conducted at two year intervals, rather than the three year interval specified in 49 CFR Part 172, Subpart H.
> 
> I emailed contacts at both agencies about this. My PHMSA contact told me that her agency doesn't enforce IATA. My FAA contact said that their inspectors will enforce whatever commitments are made in by the organizations they regulate, so if an FAA repair station commits to the IATA requirement for 2-yr. refresher training and they haven't done it, they will be cited, so based on that, it appears that at least the FAA does some enforcement of the requirement. The FAA's approach parallels my experience as a state radiation control regulator; if a rad. materials licensee commits to something (like 2-yr. hazmat employee refresher training), then my agency would hold them to it. 
> 
> My concern is that anyone who uses FedEx or other common carriers for air shipments of RAM is expected to abide by IATA/ICAO requirements, but its not like FedEx is checking with their clients to see if they actually do it, so if a company never commits to anything in writing that could gig them by the FAA or another regulator, are they off the hook or not?
> 
> My question to the group is, has anyone experienced enforcement of IATA/ICAO/IAEA requirements by the USDOT or FAA? If so, what was the context and outcome?
> 
> Any feedback on this topic would be helpful.
> 
> Walt Cofer
> Radiation Control, Inc.
> Tallahassee, FL
> Tel: (850) 668-8559
> Cell: (850) 519-5351
> Email: radcontrol at embarqmail.com
> Web: www.rad-control.net
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