Environmental Protection and Management (Hazardous Substances) Regulations

Environmental Protection and Management Act

(Chapter 94A, Section 77)

Rg 4

G.N. No. S 159/1999

REVISED EDITION 2008

(1st April 2008)

[1st April 1999]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Environmental Protection and Management (Hazardous Substances) Regulations.

Definitions

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“carrier” means any person undertaking the transport of hazardous substances and includes both carriers for hire or reward and carriers on own account;

“Chemical Weapons Convention” means the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction concluded at Paris on 13 January 1993;

[S 82/2023 wef 21/08/2023]

“code of practice” means a standard which —

(a)	sets out the method of installation of equipment and the procedure to be followed for the efficient use and maintenance of such equipment;
(b)	recommends precautions to be taken in making, using and maintaining such equipment; or
(c)	specifies the measures or precautions to be taken in designing, planning and constructing such equipment in order to ensure that the requirements laid down in respect of the design, plan and construction of such equipment are complied with;

“consignment” means any load or multi-load of hazardous substances presented by a consignor for transport;

“consignor” means any person who presents a consignment of hazardous substances for transport or on whose behalf such consignment is presented;

“emergency action plan” means such plan of action to be taken in the event of any emergency situation involving any hazardous substance as approved by the Director-General;

“freight container” means an article of transport equipment designed to facilitate the carriage of goods by one or more modes of transport without intermediate re-loading of the contents;

“hazardous substance” does not include any hydrofluorocarbon, including any mixture containing any hydrofluorocarbon, and any ozone depleting substance specified in Part I of the Second Schedule to the Act other than methyl bromide;

[S 360/2018 wef 01/01/2019]

“multi-load” means a load consisting of 2 or more hazardous substances in separate compartments or containers (whether or not a substance which is not a hazardous substance is being conveyed at the same time);

“owner”, in relation to any hazardous substance, includes any person acting as agent for the owner;

“transport” means transport by road and includes any operation incidental to the whole course of carriage, such as loading, unloading and storage in transit;

“vehicle” means any mechanically propelled vehicle or otherwise intended or adapted for use on roads and includes a road tanker and a trailer which does not form part of the vehicle.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a combination of a vehicle and one or more trailers shall be treated as one vehicle for so long as they remain attached.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, a vehicle shall be deemed to be used for the transport of a hazardous substance throughout the period, whether or not the vehicle is on a road at the material time —

(a)

in the case of a road tanker, from the commencement of loading for the purpose of conveying the substance on a road until the tank or compartment of the tank has been cleaned or purged so that any of the substances or its vapour which remains in it is not sufficient to create a risk to the health or safety of any person; or

(b)

in the case of a vehicle carrying a tank container from —

(i)	the time at which the tank container containing the hazardous substance is placed on the vehicle; or
(ii)	if the tank container was placed on the vehicle before loading was commenced, the commencement of loading,

for the purpose of conveying the substance on a road until —

(A)	the tank container is removed from the vehicle; or
(B)	the tank container or compartment of the tank container has been cleaned or purged so that any of the substances or its vapour which remains in it is not sufficient to create a risk to the health or safety of any person.

PART II

TRANSPORT OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

Application of this Part

3. This Part shall apply to the transport or consigning for transport of any hazardous substance exceeding the quantities specified in the Schedule.

Consignor’s responsibility for safe consignment

4.—(1) A person shall not consign for transport of any hazardous substance unless —

(a)	he has obtained the approval in writing of the Director-General in regard to the proposed transport of such substance; and
(b)	the container, tank container, freight container or road tanker to be used for the transport of the hazardous substance is designed, constructed and maintained in accordance with a code of practice approved by the Director-General.

(2) It shall not be lawful for any person to transport or consign for transport of any hazardous substance unless the transport or consignment of the hazardous substance is effected in accordance with the provisions of the approval issued to him under paragraph (1) and with any condition specified therein.

Carrier to obtain information on consignment

5.—(1) No carrier shall transport any hazardous substance unless he has been given a statement provided under regulation 6(1) as will enable him to comply with the requirements of these Regulations and to be aware of the risks created by the hazardous substance to the health or safety of any person.

(2) The statement shall be supplied by the consignor or owner of the consignment of the hazardous substance to the carrier at the latest when the transport order is given, so as to enable the carrier to take all necessary steps to ensure that the driver of the vehicle used to transport the hazardous substance is aware of the instructions contained in the statement and is capable of carrying them out effectively.

(3) For the purpose of this regulation, it shall be the duty of the consignor or owner of any consignment of hazardous substance who supplies any statement relating to a hazardous substance to a carrier to ensure that the information contained therein is accurate and sufficient.

Transport documents

6.—(1) The consignor or owner of any consignment of a hazardous substance shall provide, in the transport documents relating to the hazardous substance, a statement regarding the safety requirements and the actions that must be taken by the carrier which shall include the following instructions:

(a)	supplementary operational requirements for loading, transport, storage, unloading, handling and stowage or a statement that no supplementary operational requirements are necessary;
(b)	restrictions, if any, on the mode of transport and any necessary routing instructions;
(c)	emergency action plan as established in accordance to regulation 22; and
(d)	an indication of the general nature of risk and safety precautions when handling the hazardous substance.

(2) The consignor or owner of any consignment of a hazardous substance shall include in the transport documents for the consignment of the hazardous substance —

(a)	the designation and quantity of the hazardous substance;
(b)	the approval of the Director-General in regard to the transport of the hazardous substance;
(c)	an acknowledgment of receipt to be signed by the consignee or his assigns; and
(d)	a declaration that the contents of the consignment are properly described by name and are properly packaged, marked and labelled and are in a proper condition for transport.

(3) The declaration made under paragraph (2)(d) shall —

(a)	contain the original or stamped facsimile signature of the consignor or owner of the consignment of the hazardous substance, as the case may be, together with the date; and
(b)	be substantially in such form as may be determined by the Director-General.

Instructions for drivers

7. Before any hazardous substance is transported, the carrier shall —

(a)	give the driver of the vehicle used to transport the hazardous substance a copy of the statement referred to in regulation 5(1) relating to the substance being transported; and
(b)	ensure that the driver is adequately trained to carry out the instructions contained in the statement.

Responsibilities of drivers

8. The driver of a vehicle used to transport any hazardous substance shall —

(a)	keep in the cab of the vehicle a copy of the statement given to him under regulation 7 where the information will be available at all times while the substance to which it relates is being transported; and
(b)	comply with all instructions contained in the copy of the statement given to him under regulation 7.

Transport routes

9. The carrier shall not transport any hazardous substance except at the times and along the routes as determined by the Director-General.

Hazard warning panels and labels

10.—(1) Where a hazardous substance is being transported in a road tanker, a freight container, a tank container or other vehicle, the carrier shall ensure that the appropriate hazard warning panel or label as prescribed in the code of labelling specified by the Director-General is displayed on the road tanker, freight container, tank container or other vehicle.

(2) The hazard warning panel or label shall be —

(a)	weather resistant and be indelibly marked;
(b)	either rigid or fixed to be rigid;
(c)	marked on or securely attached to the road tanker, freight container, tank container or other vehicle in a substantially vertical plane, and if the means of attachment is by a frame, that frame shall carry no other hazard warning panels or labels; and
(d)	kept clean and free from obstruction, except that a rear panel or label may be mounted behind a ladder of light construction which does not prevent the information on the panel or label from being easily read.

(3) Where a multi-load is transported in a road tanker, in separate tanks or in compartments of a tank, or in a compartmented tank container, the carrier shall ensure that each such tank or compartment which contains a hazardous substance is provided with and displays the appropriate hazard warning panel or label prescribed in the code of labelling specified by the Director-General and the requirements of paragraph (2) shall apply to such panels or labels.

(4) The carrier shall ensure that the hazard warning panel or label is —

(a)	displayed on the road tanker, freight container, tank container or other vehicle at all times when a hazardous substance is being transported; and
(b)	removed when the road tanker, freight container, tank container or other vehicle is not used for transporting any hazardous substance.

Precaution against fire or explosion

11.—(1) The consignor or owner of any consignment of a hazardous substance, the carrier and the driver shall ensure that —

(a)	adequate precautionary measures are taken to prevent the hazardous substances from spilling, dropping, or being released during transportation; and
(b)	all precautions necessary for preventing a fire or an explosion are being observed.

(2) The consignor or owner of any consignment of a hazardous substance, the carrier and the driver shall ensure that suitable and efficient fire extinguishers are carried in an easily accessible position on every vehicle transporting any hazardous substance.

Prohibition against overfill

12. The consignor or owner of any consignment of a hazardous substance shall ensure that any carrying tank of a road tanker, tank container or any other container in which the hazardous substance is transported is not overfilled at the time of consigning for transport.

Prohibition against carriage of multi-loads of hazardous substances

13. No person shall transport a multi-load of hazardous substances except in accordance with a code of practice approved by the Director-General.

Supervision of vehicles carrying hazardous substances

14.—(1) The driver of a vehicle used to transport any hazardous substance shall ensure that the vehicle when not driven is —

(a)	parked in a safe place; or
(b)	supervised at all times by him or by some other competent person above the age of 18 years.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply where any carrying tank of a road tanker, tank container or compartment thereof which had contained a hazardous substance is nominally empty.

(3) In paragraph (2), “nominally empty”, in relation to a carrying tank of a road tanker, tank container or compartment thereof, means —

(a)	that as much of the hazardous substance as is reasonably practicable has been discharged or unloaded from it; and
(b)	that such hazardous substance remaining within the carrying tank of the road tanker, tank container or compartment thereof is not sufficient to create a risk to the health and safety of any person.

PART III

IMPORT OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

Import of hazardous substances

15. Any person to whom a licence has been granted under section 22 of the Act to import hazardous substance into Singapore shall ensure that the container or tank container in which the hazardous substance is imported into Singapore is designed, constructed, maintained and labelled in accordance with a code of practice approved by the Director-General.

Collection of imported hazardous substances

16. Where a hazardous substance is imported and is to be delivered in Singapore, the importer or an agent duly authorised to act on his behalf shall take delivery of the substance —

(a)	at the Woodlands or Tuas Customs Station if the substance is imported into Singapore by road;
(b)	at a railway station in Singapore if the substance is imported into Singapore by rail;
(c)	at a wharf in Singapore if the substance is imported into Singapore by water; or
(d)	at an air cargo terminal in Singapore if the substance is imported into Singapore by air.