Mike Van Ort
Associate Consultant
Mike got his start in the dangerous goods world working for a large railroad in Chicago, IL. There he learned the FRA and DOT ground and rail operations/ requirements for the movement of consumer, mail, and dangerous goods shipments; Mike implemented those requirements at the rail yards he was responsible for. After leaving the railroad, Mike migrated to a large Midwest farm cooperative and traveled the country evaluating/ auditing and documenting the policies and procedures for the local cooperatives, and assisting them in lobbying to halt some of the rural rail abandonments with the knowledge learned from his railroad days. Mike also created for them an operational manual for petroleum and anhydrous ammonia safety for the cooperatives and drivers to follow to ensure compliance.
Mike then moved into a corporate dangerous goods administrator role at a large global manufacturer for nearly 30 years.
There he oversaw the dangerous goods requirements for the nine hazard classes globally for ground, air and ocean shipments. In addition, he helped develop a dangerous goods Internal manual and training modules for both plant and distribution centers globally to meet the diverse modal requirements. Mike also followed up with internal and external audits to ensure compliance, which included material Identification, classification, packaging, marking and labeling.
Mike rounded out his career in helping create the Medical Device Battery Transport Council.
(MDBTC) was formed to promote the classification and safe transport of lithium batteries and battery-powered medical devices. MDBTC was renamed Medical Device Transport Council to address all of the transport concerns for all medical material shipments. The goal of the council was to work with regulators to identify risk reduction opportunities while also mitigating the impacts of overly burdensome regulations that have an adverse effect on the efficient transportation of life-saving products worldwide. Mike provided global support for two of the major Midwest medical device companies as well as provided guidance to other members through the MDTC organization for the past 10 years.
Mike has been active with DGAC, COSTHA, and PBRA and has participated with the UN in Geneva over several years.