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• A new manual headed "Road Transport of Hazardous Chemicals" and covering the principal safety requirements for the transport of hazardous chemicals by road, has been published at 75p by the Chemical Industries Association — a body representing 300 UK chemical manufacturers. The manual, which is virtually a code of practice, has been drawn up with the active help of the bulk liquids group of the RHA. The manual is to be distributed by the CIA to both management and drivers.
At a conference this week to launch the manual Mr H. Lewis, Principal in the Fire Department of the Home Office, said that the Home Office had tried to base requirements on those which it thought would become generally adopted. He said that the EEC had not produced any proposals for the marking of dangerous chemicals transported by road. However, they had issued directives to the effect that goods labelled to the EEC code of transport requirement will be exempt from EEC directives. Since our entry into the EEC, he said, the UK had pressed the idea of standardizing on procedure both between industries and countries. The Commission had now agreed to discuss the situation.
With regard to the handling of emergencies, he said, as the present regulations covering the transport of hazardous chemicals were extended to cover organic peroxides, compressed gases, and toxic substances — the more immediate priorities -the Home Office would send explanatory booklets to the emergency services involved in order to outline the appropriate action required, such as the use of the correct extinguishants for any particular load.
To inform the public at large about the dangers associated with dangerous chemicals and what labels mean, the Home Office hopes to produce a TV film to be shown in the autumn explaining what the public should and should not do, if they have to approach a damaged tanker or chemical container.