As a of hazardous materials you may be unaware of your responsibility under to provide placards to the driver of the motor vehicle for your shipment prior to its departure from your property. During the course of my RCRA Training and HazMat Training (combined in one 8-hour day for only $495!) I have found that many Shippers rely on the driver of the vehicle (ie. The ) to provide the placards. In addition, they don’t maintain a supply of the necessary placards and would be unable to provide them if the driver requested them.
A close reading of is in order. First, let’s be clear that it is your responsibility as a Shipper to provide to the driver the required placards for the material being offered for shipment. There is no specified time when placards must be provided (ie. When a placard threshold is met), but they must be provided before the shipment leaves your property and enters a public roadway. Again, if you offer hazardous materials for shipment by motor vehicle; then it is your responsibility to provide the required placards. Therefore, you must be certain of the regulations pertaining to placard thresholds. The full regulations can be found.
However, the provided by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) within the US Department of Transportation will answer most of your questions. For most hazardous materials in non-bulk packaging (.
2018 Emergency Response Guide
Hazardous materials loads come with a list of extra responsibilities for the driver. In addition to affixing placards when necessary, extra attention must be given to routing and parking.Then there are railroad crossings, drawbridges, schools and other circumstances where the driver may have to change the routine to comply with additional regulations. There’s even a rule about driving past open fires, should one be encountered on the trip. The chances of a DOT inspection increase exponentially once the placards are affixed, further adding to the driver’s anxiety levels.Even items not related to the hazardous cargo, like medical certification cards and the driver’s logs, whether paper or electronic, are subject to greater scrutiny. All of this doesn’t take into account what could happen in the event of an accident or even the discovery of a small leak.
When hazmat is the cargo, everything is subject to a closer look — and that includes the paperwork that accompanies the load. Drivers are already accustomed to receiving a shipping manifest or bill of lading with each pick-up, but every hazardous material load should include one additional document: the Material Safety Data Sheet or MSDS. The definition of the MSDS is best explained by rearranging the letters in the acronym. It is simply a Sheet that provides Safety Data of the Material in the cargo. The MSDS defines what’s in the cargo, by name. It also explains the hazards presented by the cargo if it is released. Will it burn on contact with the skin?
Does it give off poison fumes? Can it catch fire? If it does, is the smoke poisonous? The MSDS also provides information to the emergency responders that may be present at a spill site. Instructions may include how to clean up a spill, such as whether it can be washed away with water or must be contained or absorbed by products made for the purpose. The MSDS tells if responders need to wear protective equipment or evacuate the area around the spill. Finally, the MSDS provides contact information so the emergency responders can obtain guidance from people who are experts in the field.
Erg 2016
Most drivers are familiar with the requirement that, when hauling a hazardous materials load, paperwork must be left on the driver’s seat or in the door pouch when the driver is out of the vehicle. That’s where emergency responders are trained to look first if the driver isn’t available. Finding the paperwork quickly can make a great deal of difference in the time it takes to deal with a hazmat release, saving time, clean-up costs and even lives in worstcase scenarios. Introduction to sociology free ebooks download. The MSDS must be included with the paperwork. Unfortunately, not every shipper is diligent about including an MSDS. Shippers who manufacture or routinely handle hazmat usually have procedures to make sure an MSDS accompanies every shipment, but warehouses and shippers who generally ship mixed types of freight may not. That’s why it’s important for the driver to check the paperwork carefully before signing for the cargo.
Federal regulations stipulate that the shipping manifest or bill of lading must clearly indicate that hazardous materials are included in the load. This can be accomplished by listing all of the hazmat first, by recording it in a contrasting color, such as red, on the paperwork, or by placing an “x” in the hazmat or “HM” column if there is one.
When the driver identifies hazardous material as a part of the cargo, an immediate check should be made to make sure an MSDS for that product is included in the paperwork.If it isn’t, ask for one, or follow the carrier’s direction for such situations, but don’t leave the shipper until the issue is resolved. If the MSDS is present, check it carefully to make sure it matches the product being shipped. Some chemicals have names that appear nearly identical but could react much differently in the event of a spill. Many carriers issue each driver a small, but important, item of insurance when hauling a hazmat load, the Emergency Response Guidebook, (ERG). That small, orange booklet contains most of the same information found on the MSDS for just about any product that’s legal to haul. The most important thing for the driver to remember about the ERG is where to keep it, and that’s with the load paperwork. Treat it the same as a shipping paper.
If the shipper fails to include an MSDS or provides the wrong one for the substance in the cargo, the ERG provides emergency responders with the information they need. A less important but much more probable role for the little guidebook is to save the driver a costly citation during a DOT inspection. If The book is included with the paperwork, the requirement for keeping emergency paperwork with the shipping papers is met. For those who are interested, the ERG contains color-coded pages. The blue and yellow pages are simply lists of hazardous materials in alphabetical order in the blue section and by ID number in the yellow. Do you want to know what’s in that tanker that just passed? Look up the number on the placard in the yellow pages of the ERG.
The entry for each substance also contains the number of the “guide” that provides safety data for that material. The guides are printed on the orange pages of the ERG. Each guide lists the potential hazards, containment methods, flammability and fire-fighting procedures and other information.
Hazmat Driver Erg Responsibilities Military
Finally, the green pages contain information for those substances that, if spilled, could require evacuation. Details are provided about how wide an area to evacuate, and so on. No driver needs to be a chemist or a disaster recovery expert to haul hazmat. Properly storing the right documents, such as the MSDS and ERG, along with the shipment paperwork can help prevent a major disaster and might just make that next journey behind the scale house go a little bit smoother.