How Do Dangerous Goods Regulations Apply to Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles Transporting Medical Cargos?

Matt Grote,Janet Dickinson,Paul Royall,Andrew Oakey,Simon Whalley,Tom Cherrett

doi:10.3390/drones5020038

Matt Grote, Janet Dickinson + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5020038

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Abstract

Commercial operations of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) are expanding, with medical logistics using UAVs as part of health service supply chains being targeted. The ability to transport cargos that include items classified as Dangerous Goods (DG) is a significant factor in enabling UAV logistics to assist medical supply chains, but DG regulations for air transport have developed from the perspective of crewed aircraft and not UAVs. This paper provides an important audit of the current DG regulations, best practice in their application and the development of much-needed new governance that will be required to fully exploit UAVs for the safe transport of DG in medical logistics. Findings from the audit provide a summary of the circumstances and potential challenges resulting from the application of DG regulations as they stand to UAV operations, particularly for medical logistics, and convenient guidance on the practical implications of DG regulations for UAV operators. The main conclusion is that this is an under-researched domain, not yet given full consideration in a holistic way by regulators, governments, industry bodies, practitioners or academia.

Highlights

The methodology centred around an extensive audit of: (i) the current standards, recommendations and legal requirements that have been published primarily by the regulators, and through governmental white papers and documents published by industry bodies, both in conventional aviation and in the emerging UAV sector; (ii) use cases disseminated by practitioners and aviation developers; and (iii) the frameworks and research findings published in peer-reviewed academic journals
Over 3000 substances have been classified as Dangerous Goods (DG) when transported by air, and each is individually listed in the Dangerous Goods Regulations’ (DGR), along with instructions on how it should be packed for safe air transport
The increasing interest in utilising UAVs for logistics operations requires the DGR for air transport to be considered, but this research has found that little literature addresses how the DGR should be applied to UAV logistics operations

Summary

Introduction

One area where commercial UAV operations could offer benefits in terms of reduced service times, energy use and atmospheric emissions is medical logistics, in areas where hospitals, clinics, doctors’ surgeries and laboratories are hard to reach by existing surface transport [2,4,8,9]. Recent examples include Matternet, who has used UAVs to deliver medicines in Switzerland, the Dominican Republic, New Guinea and Haiti (after the 2010 earthquake), and is routinely transporting laboratory specimens via UAV for a North Carolina health service in the USA [2,9]. Zipline is using UAVs to deliver blood for transfusion to 25 hospitals and clinics across Rwanda, overcoming the challenges of the region’s poor road infrastructure [4,10]. Apian is trialling a UAV delivery service for COVID-19 samples, which it hopes to scale into the National Health Service (NHS) Air Grid (NAG), a network of UAV corridors connecting health service sites across the UK for delivery of pathology samples, medical equipment, medications and blood [11]

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