The federal government has issued a "protective direction" requiring any person who imports or transports crude oil to conduct classification tests on crude oil.
"Our government remains committed to taking action to protect public safety, and we will take targeted action to increase the safety of the transportation of dangerous goods," said Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt.
Effective immediately, any person who imports or transports crude oil must:
• Conduct classification testing of any crude oil being classified as UN 1267 or UN 1993, which has not undergone classification testing since July 7, 2013.
• Make those tests results available to Transport Canada upon request.
• Update their safety data sheets (SDS) and immediately provide them to Transport Canada's Canadian Transport Emergency Centre.
• Until such testing is completed, ship all such crude oil as Class 3 Flammable Liquid Packing Group I, when shipping by rail.
Transport Canada continues to work in co-operation with the Transportation Safety Board as it conducts its investigation into the tragic accident in Lac-Mégantic, Que. Transport Canada is building upon the safety advisories received from the Transportation Safety Board and is further enhancing the safety of railway operations and dangerous goods transportation in Canada, it said.
Oil and gas are routinely shipped safely across the country every day. There are over 30 million shipments of dangerous goods every year in Canada with "99.999 per cent of them reaching their destinations without incident," said the government.
"Our government remains committed to taking action to protect public safety, and we will take targeted action to increase the safety of the transportation of dangerous goods," said Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt.
Effective immediately, any person who imports or transports crude oil must:
• Conduct classification testing of any crude oil being classified as UN 1267 or UN 1993, which has not undergone classification testing since July 7, 2013.
• Make those tests results available to Transport Canada upon request.
• Update their safety data sheets (SDS) and immediately provide them to Transport Canada's Canadian Transport Emergency Centre.
• Until such testing is completed, ship all such crude oil as Class 3 Flammable Liquid Packing Group I, when shipping by rail.
Transport Canada continues to work in co-operation with the Transportation Safety Board as it conducts its investigation into the tragic accident in Lac-Mégantic, Que. Transport Canada is building upon the safety advisories received from the Transportation Safety Board and is further enhancing the safety of railway operations and dangerous goods transportation in Canada, it said.
Oil and gas are routinely shipped safely across the country every day. There are over 30 million shipments of dangerous goods every year in Canada with "99.999 per cent of them reaching their destinations without incident," said the government.
