Hazardous Materials: Shipping Papers
6 questions in the bank cover this topic. Everything below is drawn from the sources those questions cite.
Sources: 49 CFR 172.600, 49 CFR 172.602, 49 CFR 177.817
What you need to know
172.600(c)(1) requires the information to be immediately available at all times the material is present.
Locked in a trailer or left at the terminal does not satisfy it.
Emergency response information conforming to this subpart is immediately available for use at all times the hazardous material is present
49 CFR 172.600
172.600(c)(2) names any representative of a federal, state or local agency responding to an incident or investigating one.
This is why the paperwork must be where a responder can reach it. Federal, state or local all qualify.
Emergency response information, including the emergency response telephone number, required by this subpart is immediately available to any person who, as a representative of a Federal, State or local government agency, responds to an incident involving a hazardous material
49 CFR 172.600
172.602(a) lists the minimum content: the basic description and technical name, immediate hazards to health, risks of fire or explosion, immediate precautions after an incident, and more.
It is written for someone arriving at a wreck.
Immediate hazards to health
49 CFR 172.602
172.602(a)(3) requires risks of fire or explosion.
Together with the health hazards and immediate precautions, it tells a responder what the material will do and what not to do near it.
Risks of fire or explosion
49 CFR 172.602
177.817(a) prohibits accepting or transporting hazmat without a shipping paper prepared under Part 172, unless the material is specifically excepted.
The paper is what tells responders and inspectors what is aboard.
A person may not accept a hazardous material for transportation or transport a hazardous material by highway unless that person has received a shipping paper prepared in accordance with part 172 of this subchapter or the material is excepted from shipping paper requirements under this subchapter.
49 CFR 177.817
172.602(a)(4) requires immediate precautions for an accident or incident, alongside the basic description and technical name, immediate health hazards and the risks of fire or explosion.
The information must cover what to do in an accident or incident.
Immediate precautions to be taken in the event of an accident or incident
49 CFR 172.602
Check yourself
- When must you have emergency response information available?
- To whom must you make the emergency response information and telephone number immediately available?
- What must the emergency response information you carry include as a minimum?
- Besides health hazards, what risk must the emergency response information you carry address?
- May you accept a hazardous material without a shipping paper?
- What must emergency response information contain?
Answers are in the practice test for this topic.