At the 17th session of the United Nations Subcommittee of the Committee of Experts (UNSCOE) on the Transport of Dangerous Goods held December 6–15th 1999, the Spanish proposed that a vibration test be required for steel drums as some drums are capable of passing the drop tests but repeatedly fail vibration tests. Some delegates argued that a there is not enough evidence in statistics to support this but the COE adopted the proposal by a majority and it will be included in the Model Regulation once a test procedure has been worked out. Currently, the procedure is being researched by Spain and other countries, taking in to account the current ISO standards and vibration tests. This being the case, when the US adopted the Model recommendations they made them more stringent than they appear in the Orange Book. Therefore, it is likely that vibration testing for each design type may well become an annual requirement similar to annual re-certification for drum producers.
DOT/UN Industry News