

CSB Completed Investigation - AB Specialty Silicones, LLC - 24 Sept 2021
On May 3, 2019, operators at the AB Specialty Silicones, LLC (AB Specialty) manufacturing facility in Waukegan, Illinois were performing a batch operation that involved manually adding and mixing chemicals in a tank inside the production building. During the operation, an operator pumped an incorrect chemical into the tank, which was incompatible with another chemical that was added to the tank. The incorrect, incompatible chemical was stored in an identical drum to one of t


Port of Beirut Ammonium Nitrate Explosion
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. A cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years, after having been confiscated by the Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus.

IMDG Code Amendment 40-20 is mandatory as from 1 June 2022
Amendment 40-20 includes revisions to various Sections of the code and to transport requirements for specific substances. It is mandatory as from 1st June 2022 but may be applied by Administrations in whole or in part on a voluntary basis from 1 Jan 2021. The amendment Cycle from 2017 - 2026 is as attached: Source: IMDG Code (imo.org)


GHS 9th Revised Edition is now available online
At its tenth session (11 December 2020), the "Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals" adopted a set of amendments to the eighth revised edition of the GHS which include: the revision of chapter 2.1 (explosives) to better address their explosion hazard when they are not in their transport configuration; the revision of decision logics The revision of the classification and labe


Xanthate - Can it cause fire on board vessels?
Xanthate is the common name for chemical reagents used in mining industry for separating valuable minerals, such as gold, copper, lead or zinc minerals, from non-valuable minerals, such as limestone or quartz. Common xanthate products are sodium ethyl xanthate (SEX), sodium isopropyl xanthate (SIPX), sodium isobutyl xanthate (SIBX) and potassium amyl xanthate (PAX). October 2021 - a container vessel suffered a severe fire incident after damaged containers caught fire on boar