Dangerous Goods amendments in Western Australia

Amendments to the Western Australian Dangerous Goods Safety (Road and Rail Transport of Non-explosives) Regulations 2007 will take effect from 1 January 2016.

The amendments clarify the duties of parties in the transport chain, such as consignors, loaders and prime contractors and rail operators. For example, a new regulation 114(5) provides:

(5) A prime contractor or rail operator must not transport a load of dangerous goods (other than a placard load) in or on a cargo transport unit if —  

(a) the load is placarded; and  

(b) the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, that the placarding is false or misleading in a material particular.  

Penalty for this subregulation: a fine of $10 000. 

You can access a copy of the amending legislation HERE.

The amending regulations also refer specifically to the  Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail, and include the following definition:

ADG Code means the Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (also called the Australian Dangerous Goods Code) published by the National Transport Commission, Edition 7.4 (ISBN 978-1-921604-69-0), as in effect on 1 January 2016, including (for the avoidance of doubt) its appendices;

Importantly,  a new ADG Code was published on 18 December 2015.

You can access the ADG Code and further information about it HERE.