You might be an engineer if:
• you take a cruise so you can go on a personal tour of the engine room
• in university, you thought that Spring Break was metal fatigue failure
• the sales people at the local computer store can’t answer all of your questions
• at an air show, you know how fast the skydivers are falling
• you still own a slide rule and know how to use it
It is essential that only such words should be used by the law-giver as are bound to produce the same notions in the minds of all men.
Montesquieu
To the optimist, the glass is half-full
To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be
In every situation, in every trade or profession, there is a certain idea which is so much present to one’s mind, so clearly implied that it seems unnecessary to state it when speaking.
Michel Breal
Interdisciplinary Practice in the Transportation of Dangerous
Goods
March 20, 2002
Why do we need engineers?
• Build, design
• Develop energy system
Why do we need government?
• Civilized rules to govern society
• Legislation & Enforcement
What is the connection between engineers and government?
Safety
Provide society with goods and services that make life better, more comfortable
and safe
How is this safety achieved?
Legislation
• Primary
• Subordinate
What is legislation?
• Written document
• Policies & principles
• Guide human behaviour
• Ensure societal norms
Just what are standards?
• Establish accepted practices & technical requirements
• Set out characteristics of product, service or system
• Ensure product, service or system is uniform, compatible & safe
How are standards incorporated into law?
• Reproduced directly into statute or regulation
• Incorporated by reference into statute or regulation
How does all this relate to me?
Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992
• Politicians: Statute - 19 pages in length
• Bureaucrats: Regulations - 800 pages in length
• Engineers: Standards - 30,000 pages in length
Types of standards
• prescriptive - product characteristics
• performance - tests that simulate product performance
under actual service conditions
• design - specific design or technical characteristics of
a product
• management - management processes
What is the role of standards?
• benefit public safety, health, welfare
• assist and protect consumers
• facilitate trade and commerce within and between countries
• advance the national economy
• “consensus process”
Standards Council of Canada (SCC)
• federal Crown Corporation
• 15-member governing Council
• mandate: to promote efficient and effective standardisation
• reports to Parliament through the Minister of Industry
• national & international role
SCC-accredited Standards Development Organisations (SDOs)
• Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB)
• Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
• Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC)
• Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ)
International system of standards development
• International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)
• International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
• International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
How does Canada contribute to international standardisation?
• SCC coordinates Canadian contribution
• SCC is a member body of ISO (& IEC)
• Canadian Advisory Committees (CACs) for each of the ISO technical committees, subcommittees, and working groups
• SCC submits Canadian votes & comments
• represent SCC when attending meetings
• SCC can be the Secretariat of a ISO technical committee or subcommittee
How are international standards developed& used?
An example
W G 7Com patibility between gases & m aterial
(France)
SC 3Design
(United K ingdom )
W G 1Rejection criteria(United K ingdom )
W G 2Retesting by acoustic em ission
(France)
SC 4Operational requirem ents
(U.S.A.)
TC 58Gas cylinders
(Sweden)
ISO
54 ISO standards published
48 current work items
Com m ittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods
Econom ic & Social Council
United Nations
UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods
Canadian Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations
UN Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods
ISO standards
No intelligent man will be so bold as to put into language those things which his reason has contemplated … if he should be betrayed into so doing, then surely not the gods but mortals have utterly blasted his wits.
Plato’s Seventh Epistle
Language has, in fact, many of the qualities possessed by human beings themselves: it tends to be emotional when pure reason is required, it is sometimes unsure of what it means, it changes form, meaning, sound. It is slippery, elusive, hard to fix, define, delimit.
Anthony Burgess
A Mouthful of Air
Individual S tate
C lear Law
Public Safety
Delegation
Rule of Law
Clear Law
Why is the standard necessary?To whom does the standard apply?To what does the standard apply?Where does the standard apply?When does the standard apply?How does the standard work?
Brimful (overflow) capacity - maximum volume of water in litres held by the packaging when filled through the designed filling orifice to the point of overflowing in its normal position of filling.
Determination of brimful capacity - a packaging intended to contain liquids shall be filled to not less than 98% of the brimful capacity. The brimful (overflow) capacity is determined for example by:• weighing the empty packaging including closures
(mass empty = m kg) and• weighing the packaging full (mass m kgs brimful =
W kg)
The packaging shall be filled with water until the water just overflows and then fitting the closure and any surplus mopped up. No steps shall be taken, e.g. by tilting or tapping the packaging, to enable the water to penetrate into a hollow handle or other design feature above the closure.b = W - mb is the brimful capacity in litres.W is the mass of the packaging when brimful with water in kilograms.m is the mass of the empty packaging in kilograms.
