CASE STUDY
SHUT OFF BY AIR CARRIERS
Are you a shipper of dangerous goods (alternately identified as
“hazardous materials” by U.S. Department of Transportation regulations)?
If so, and you ship via air, the following case study may prove helpful
to you.
Recently, a subsequent client of CTI had its air transportation services
cut off by their transportation provider. Our client periodically
prepared packaging of dangerous goods for international shipment via
air. The carrier was inspected by U.S. Department of Transportation on
the highway as the shipment was being delivered to the airport for
consolidation and shipment overseas. The inspection found various
violations with regard to improper packaging and incomplete
documentation. Upon review of the incident, the carrier found that our
client also had not trained their responsible personnel as required by
the regulations. The transporter advised our client that they would not
transport shipments until the proper training was conducted.
Every shipper is required to have job-specific training before shipping
dangerous goods on any air carrier to comply with U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) regulations. International air shippers are
required to train applicable personnel in accordance with the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Air
Transport Association (IATA) prior to shipping dangerous goods.
-
Refresher training for international
shippers must be conducted every two years. For domestic shipments,
the U.S. DOT requires training every three years.
-
Training records can be reviewed by an
appropriate agency at any time.
The shipper is responsible for
complying with all packing requirements and appropriate marking and
labeling of the package, documentation, as well as compliance with all
applicable local, state and federal laws, regulations, ordinances and
rules.
In addition, improperly declared or undeclared shipments of dangerous
goods must be reported to the U.S. DOT. The shipper may be subject to
fines and penalties under applicable law.
Shipments were delayed for a period of time causing a customer service
headache and some not-too-happy management personnel. To make matters
worse, the company was cited for violations with regard to improper
packaging and an improperly completed manifest.
Beware that training is a regulatory requirement, lack of which can
cause your carrier to cease accepting your shipments resulting in
significant customer dissatisfaction and fines for violation. Training
provides the necessary information which can prevent non-compliance of
applicable packaging, labeling, and documentation requirements.
Contact CTI for additional information concerning our DOT and IATA
training classes.
|
