A working group has been established by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC) to examine packaging testing issues. The group is primarily concerned about container testing by DOT at its Tobyhanna test lab. Group members include packaging manufacturers and shippers of hazardous materials. The Group plans to identify a strategy for working with DOT to use the information gathered at Tobyhanna as a research tool to improve the safety of packaging. The group will review data compiled by DOT since it initiated container testing at Tobyhanna more than a decade ago. They will also examine why packaging design type tests performed successfully at a manufacturers’ locations often result in failures at Tobyhanna. In addition, the Group will review the accuracy of the data obtained from Tobyhanna and posted on the PHMSA website. DGAC also wants to establish a forum for information exchange among and between companies that perform testing, and shippers that use hazmat packaging domestically and internationally. DGAC plans to open and maintain a dialogue with PHMSA on packaging testing issues to ensure all parties fully understand the purpose of Tobyhanna testing and the value of the data published by the Agency.
As a founding member of this Working Group, I believe the DGAC effort will compliment the work that other organizations have done on this issue for more than 15 years. It is critical that DOT recognize that a wide range of packaging producers and shippers are concerned that the Tobyhanna test results do not reflect the real-world performance experience of hazmat packagings (e.g. steel drums). In-field transport of our packagings is successful globally and we want to understand why DOT is focusing on a problem that, statistically, does not exist.