Richard Schweitzer, PLLC
March 13, 2014
President
Donald Bossow
Sr Mgr NA Reg Affairs/Global Systems
Diversey, Inc.
First Vice President
Sean Broderick
Senior Manager, Global Govt Relations
Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC
Second Vice President/Treasurer
Dave Madsen
HazMat Analyst
Autoliv ASP, Inc.
Secretary
Amy Fischesser
Corporate Hazardous Materials Manager
Sun Chemical Corporation
Executive Committee Member
Robert Heinrich
Transportation Safety Advisor
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Board of Directors
John D'Aloia
Manager Transportation Compliance
Mary Kay
Jeanette DeGennaro
EHS Compliance Mgr.
Instrumentation Laboratory
Trevor Howard
Mgr Safety/Dangerous Goods Standards
Air Canada
James Jahnke
Sr. Manager Dangerous Goods
Merck and Co.
Richard Lattimer
Consultant-HSE
Eli Lilly and Company
David Littlejohn
Corporate Safety Advisor
FedEx Express
Boyd Stephenson
Director, Hazardous Materials Policy
American Trucking Associations, Inc.
Carrie Wayne
Global Manager, Trans. Safety
Honeywell International
Daniel Wieten
National Mgr Compliance Plan & Admin
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
Jeanne Zmich
Vice President R&D
Labelmaster
General Counsel
Richard Schweitzer, PLLC
USEPA Headquarters
Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
Attn: Barnes Johnson, Director
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Mail Code: 5301P
Washington, DC 20460
Email: Johnson.barnes@epa.gov
Dear Barnes Johnson:
The Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles, Inc. (COSTHA)
hereby submits a request for interpretation to confirm the activation of an oxygen
(O2) generator to release the energy is not considered to be treatment of a
waste.
COSTHA is a not-for-profit organization representing manufacturers, shippers,
distributors, carriers, freight forwarders, trainers, packaging manufacturers and
other associated with the hazardous materials transportation industry. In
addition to promoting regulatory compliance and safety in hazardous materials
transportation, COSTHA assists its members and the public in evaluating the
practicality and efficacy of laws, rules and regulations for the safe transportation
and distribution of hazardous materials.
Air carriers use oxygen generators in passenger service units to provide
supplemental oxygen to passengers in the event of an in-flight emergency.
Oxygen generators contain a number of chemicals including sodium chlorate
and are often initiated by a squib or small explosive charge. When activated,
generators produce oxygen in an extremely exothermic reaction, raising the
temperature of the external canister to more than 550 oF. Once the reaction has
completed, the generator is considered spent and is treated in the US as a
hazardous waste due to the presence of barium oxide. Although the reaction is
nearly complete when activated, spent generators may continue to release small
amounts of oxygen as residual chemicals react. This continued reaction
however does not release large amounts of heat.
Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles
7803 Hill House Court, Fairfax Station, VA 22039 • Phone: (518)761-0389 • Fax: (518)792-7781 • www.costha.com
Generators which have passed their expiration date must be removed from the aircraft for either
refurbishment or disposal. Air operators must comply with the US Department of
Transportation (DOT) Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) as well as all US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) requirements related to O2 generators regardless of whether they are
returning them to the manufacturer or to a Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) for
disposal or refurbishment.
In Title 49 CFR, §173.168, the HMR provides regulatory requirements for transporting chemical
oxygen generators that are not expired. An O2 generator with an explosive or non-explosive
means of initiation attached must be approved by the Associate Administrator. The O2
generator must be capable of withstanding a 1.8m drop test and must incorporate a means of
preventing accidental activation. Oxygen generators are forbidden for transport on passenger
aircraft. When past their expiration date or after they have been expended, the generators are
forbidden for transport by passenger and cargo aircraft.
Oxygen generators that are unserviceable are typically expended to release the energy. While
this action results in the generator being forbidden for transport by air, it significantly reduces or
eliminates the likelihood a dangerous evolution of heat will occur during transport or while in
storage. The act of expending is usually done by placing the generator in a 55-gallon drum of
water when active. The reaction releases only gaseous oxygen, and no trace chemicals are
released into the drum. Even after the generator has been expended the device is treated as
a hazardous waste due to the barium oxide left within the generator. For example, one
manufacturer’s SDS, Section 13 for an oxygen generator states “Generators must be spent prior
to disposal. Due to barium within the generator it is considered a hazardous waste even after it
is spent. The spent generator must be disposed of in accordance with all Federal, State and
local regulations. “
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final recommendations on ValuJet flight 592
in 1997 (A-97-64) “Require airplane manufacturers to amend company maintenance manuals
for airplanes that use chemical oxygen generators to indicate that generators that have
exceeded their service life should not be transported unless they have been actuated and their
oxidizer core has been depleted." This recommendation was supported by the Chemical Safety
Board (CSB) in their report on the EQ waste disposal facility fire in Apex, North Carolina. The
CSB Safety Advisory No. 2007-I-NC-01-SA issued June 2007 noted “…the need for aircraft
maintenance facilities to expend chemical oxygen generators that have exceeded their service
life, and for hazardous waste facility operators and shippers to exercise due when handling
unspent chemical oxygen generators.”
However, several States, including California, Michigan, Illinois, and New York deem the
expending of the generator as treatment of a hazardous waste and therefore require the
location to be permitted as a Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF). This
requirement is extremely costly. To further complicate the issue, some States require a facility
to have an air emission permit or include in their Title V Air Permit to activate an oxygen
generator for the purposes of pre-disposal functions. The States that require an air permit
include California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Because these
requirements are costly and require additional actions or responsibilities as a TSDF, shippers
may chose the option of shipping the un-expended generators by ground to a disposal facility.
As described above, shipping of unexpended generators increases the risk of a dangerous
evolution of heat during transport or storage.
The Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles, Inc.
7803 Hill House Court, Fairfax Station, VA 22039 703/451-4031 FAX: 703/451-4207
mail@costha.com
www.costha.com
COSTHA realizes States have the right to regulate the treatment of hazardous wastes.
However, the position that expending an oxygen generator is treatment of a hazardous waste
has led to potentially unsafe transportation and storage of oxygen generators. Both the NTSB
and CSB recommend expending the generators prior to transport. Therefore, COSTHA
requests the EPA recommend States consider the expending of oxygen generators prior to
transportation for disposal as other than the treatment of a hazardous waste, or as an
acceptable treatment without a TSDF permit.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss these issues further, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Sincerely,
L’Gena Shaffer
Technical Consultant
The Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles, Inc.
7803 Hill House Court, Fairfax Station, VA 22039 703/451-4031 FAX: 703/451-4207
mail@costha.com
www.costha.com