{"operation":"document","citation":"13-0146","title":"FIBA Technologies — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2014-01-16","effective_on":null,"summary":"13-0146 response to FIBA Technologies concerning 180.207.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-13-0146.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-13-0146.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-13-0146","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2013/130146.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety\nAdministration\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nJAN 1 6 2014\nMr. Christopher Adams\nManager, Regulatory Affairs\nFIBA Technologies\nP.O. Box 360\n1535 Grafton Road\nMillbury, MA 01527\nRef. No.: 13-0146\nDear Mr. Adams:\nThis is in response to your July 9, 2013 petition for rulemaking and your telephone\nconversation with a member of my staff discussing a change to the requalification\nrequirements for UN pressure receptacles in accordance with the Hazardous Materials\nRegulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you note that§ 180.207(d)(l)\nrequires each seamless steel UN pressure receptacle (defined as UN cylinders and UN\ntubes) to be requalified in accordance with ISO 6406, however ISO 6406 addresses only UN\ncylinders.\nThe HMR currently authorize the use of ISO 6406 to requalify UN refillable seamless steel\ncylinders and UN refillable seamless steel tubes. As noted in your letter, while ISO 6406\ndoes not specifically address requalification of UN tubes, all ofthe elements associated with\nthe periodic requalification of seamless steel UN tubes are addressed and would allow a\nproper requalification of a UN tube. We are aware that the current ISO 6406 has a\nlimitation of 150 liters, which is substantially less than the maximum volume of a UN\nrefillable seamless steel tube (3,000 liters). PHMSA participates in the ISO/TC58/SC4\nworking group considering revisions to that standard. Once that revision is complete, we\nmay consider adopting the revised standard.\nUntil we adopt a revised standard that specifically addresses the requalification of UN\nrefillable seamless steel tubes the currently adopted ISO 6406 may be used to requalify UN\nrefillable seamless steel tubes (with a capacity greater than 150 liters) as permitted by\n§ 180.207.\nI hope this information is helpful. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to\ncontact this office.\nSincerely,\n~~A-~\nDuane Pfund\nIntt:rnational Standards Coordinator\nStandards and Rulemaking Division\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nFIBA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.\nP.O. Box 360\n1535 Grafton Road\nMillbury, MA 01527 U.S.A.\nTel: (508) 887-7100\nFax: (508) 754-2254\nwww.fibatech.com\nQUALITY PRODUCTS-SERVICE\nFIBA Petition to DOT for Rulemaking on\nRequalification of UN Refillable Seamless Steel Tubes\nJuly 9, 2013\nStandards and Rulemaking Division\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\nU.S. Department of Transportation\nEast Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE\nWashington, DC 20590-0001\nATIN: PHH-10\nTo Whom It May Concern:\nFIBA Technologies, Inc. (FIBA) is requesting to revise the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)\nHazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). To that end, we offer the following information in accordance\nwith 49 CFR § 106.100(a), Required information for a petition for rulemaking:\n(1) A summary of proposed action and explanation of its purpose -This petition proposes to revise Title\n49 CFR Part 180 to include language that permits International Standard ISO 6406, Gas cylinders-\nSeamless steel gas cylinders- Periodic inspection and testing to be applied, as far as practical, to UN\npressure receptacles of water capacity greater than 150 I.\n(2) Language proposed- We propose that paragraph 49 CFR § 180.207(d)(1) pertaining to seamless\nsteel UN pressure receptacles be revised as follows:\n(1) Seamless steel: Each seamless steel UN cylinder must be requalified in accordance with ISO\n6406. Each seamless steel UN tube, including MEGC's pressure receptacles, must also be\nrequalified, as far as practical, to ISO 6406.\n(No changes required to the last sentence of 49 CFR § 180.207{d){l}. In other words, continue to require\nUN cylinders with a tensile strength greater than or equal to 950 MPa must be requalified by UE.}\nSERVING THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1958\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nPage 2 of 3\n(3) F/BA's interest in proposed action-\n• To correct an oversight in the current DOT regulations and ISO 6406.\n• Currently, seamless transportable pressure receptacles with a water capacity exceeding 150\nL but not more than 3,000 L (described in 49 CFR § 171.8 as UN tubes) are currently not\naddressed in ISO 6406, Second edition 2005-02-01.\n• Yet, DOT regulations currently require that UN tubes be tested in accordance with ISO 6406.\n(4) Supporting information and arguments- To support our petition we offer the folld'wing comments:\nA. ISO members are currently working on ISO/WD 18119, which is basically a combination of\nISO standards ISO 6406 and ISO 10461. The last sentence in the scope of this draft standard\nhas been revised to say: \"It also applies, as far as practical, to cylinders of less than 0,5 I\nwater capacity and greater than 150 1.\"\nB. It is unnecessary to write an ISO standard that is specific to UN tubes. All elements\nassociated with the periodic inspection and testing (requalification) of UN tubes is covered\nby ISO 6406. This is why ISO members are revising the standard such that it addresses all\nsizes of steel and aluminium alloy gas cylinders.\nC. There are parts of ISO 6406 that are applicable only to small cylinders or cylinders with\nbottoms. Those parts are clearly not applicable to UN tubes. The inspection and testing\nrequirements of ISO 6406 that are applicable to UN tubes are clear. There will be no\nconfusion on the part of requalifiers as to what sections of ISO 6406 are applicable to UN\ntubes.\nD. Finally, ADR (2009) states in NOTE 2: Section 6.2.1.6.1: \"With the agreement of the\ncompetent authority, the hydraulic pressure test of cylinders of tubes may be replaced by\nan equivalent method based on acoustic emission testing, ultrasonic examination or a\ncombination of acoustic emission testing and ultrasonic examination.\" This statement\nindicates that the European community is aware that there's a distinction to be made\nbetween cylinders and tubes. Unfortunately, ADR can only reference ISO 6406 for seamless\nsteel pressure receptacles.\n(5) Specific cases supporting the need for proposed action- Specific cases supporting the need for the\nproposed action are listed below:\nA. As pointed out in item (4) A. above, members of ISO/WD 18119 recognized this oversight\nand they are working on writing a new ISO standard that will encompass all sizes of\nseamless steel and seamless aluminium alloy gas cylinders and all aspects of the\nrequalification (i.e. periodic inspection and testing) of such cylinders.\n\n<<<PAGE 4>>>\n\nPage 3 of 3\nB. C. Without such a change, UN tubes will only be able to be requalified by special permits. It is\nnot in the best interest of the DOT and the public to require a special permit to be written\nwhen ISO 6406 is perfectly adequate.\nFIBA is aware that European Norm EN 1968, Transportable gas cylinders- Periodic\ninspection and testing of seamless steel gas cylinders, also intends to address this issue in\nthe next revision by including in Section 1, Scope, the following note: \"NOTE As far as\npracticable, this standard may also be applied to cylinders of less than 0,5 I water capacity\nand for tubes up to 3 000 I water capacity.\"\n(6) The impact of this proposed action is not substantial with regard to costs and, therefore:\nA. There will be no significant cost to society in general or any particular, identifiable groups\nwithin society in general. The benefits are a safer compressed gas industry without any\nsignificant additional costs.\nB. This proposed action will have no direct effects on State, on the relationship between the\nFederal government and the States, and on the distribution of power and responsibilities\namong the various levels of government.\nC. There will be no regulatory burden on small businesses, small organizations, small\ngovernmental jurisdictions and Indian tribes.\nD. The additional record keeping requirements would be no greater than those required today\nby the US Department of Transportation and Transport Canada.\nE. By adopting this proposal there will be no effect on the quality of the natural and social\nenvironments.\nIf the DOT agrees with this petition and supports making a change to the DOT regulations, we would also\nthen like to take this opportunity to suggest that the DOT present an information document (INF paper)\nto the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods to incorporate this\nprovision into the UN model regulations until such time as either a revised ISO 6406 version or the new\nISO 18119 can be incorporated because it may take several years for that to occur.\nI trust that I have provided you with all the information you need. Please do not hesitate to contact me\nwith any questions or needs for additional information.\nVery truly yours,\nL~~\nChristopher R. Adams\nManager, Regulatory Affairs\nFIBA Technologies, Inc.\nTEL(S08)887-7121\nE-Mail: chrisadams@fibatech.com","truncated":false,"body_characters":8809}