PHMSA issued a Federal Register notice to remind hazardous materials shippers and carriers of their responsibility to ensure that current, accurate and timely emergency response information is immediately available to emergency response officials for shipments of hazardous materials, and such information is maintained on a regular basis.
The Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180), specifically Subpart G of Part 172, prescribe requirements for detailed emergency response information, including, accessibility and communication of incident mitigation measures. The reminder was prompted by recent railroad accidents this year involving tankcars carrying crude oil.
On February 16, a CSX train carrying 109 cars of crude oil derailed in Mt Carbon WV. The accident resulted in the derailment of 26 tank cars, 14 of which caught fire. On March 5, a BNSF train carrying 103 cars of crude oil derailed in Galena IL. Of the 21 cars derailed involved in the incident, five caught fire. While the investigation is still underway, these incidents serve as a reminder that accurate and accessible emergency response information can be a critical component for an adequate emergency response effort, according to PHMSA officials.
With limited exceptions, the HMR require shipments of hazardous materials to be accompanied by shipping papers and other documentation designed to communicate to transport workers and emergency responders the hazards associated with a specific shipment. This information must include the immediate hazard to health; risks of fire or explosion; immediate precautions to be taken in the event of an accident; immediate methods for handling fires; initial methods for handling spills or leaks in the absence of fire; and preliminary first aid measures. The information must be written in English and presented on a shipping paper or related shipping document. The offeror of a hazardous material is responsible for ensuring the emergency response information is current, correct, and accurate. Re-offerors are permitted to rely on previous data provided they take no intermediate action, such as blending or mixing the material.
A delay or improper response due to a lack of accurate or timely emergency response information may place emergency response personnel, transportation workers, the general public, or the environment at increased risk. Expeditious identification of the hazards and proper instructions for appropriate handling and clean up associated with specific hazardous materials is critical to quickly mitigating the consequences of unintended releases of hazardous materials and other incidents.
Section 172.600(b) of the HMR requires persons who offer for transportation, accept for transportation, transfer, or otherwise handle hazardous materials during transportation to provide emergency response information including an emergency response telephone number. Therefore, the responsibility to provide emergency response information is not solely that of an offeror. This responsibility is shared by those who offer, accept, transfer, or otherwise handle hazardous materials during transportation and must be completed prior to offering hazardous materials into transportation. A current safety data sheet (SDS) that includes accurate emergency response information for the product being shipped, although not required, is one form of information that may be used to satisfy the emergency response information requirements.
Section 172.602(a)(1) requires that the emergency response information contain the basic description and technical name of the hazardous material as required by Sections 172.202 and 172.203(k). Section 172.602(b)(3) requires that the emergency response information be presented (i) on a shipping paper; (ii) in a document, other than a shipping paper, that includes both the basic description and technical name of the hazardous material (eg safety data sheet); or (iii) related to the information on a shipping paper, in a separate document (eg, an emergency response guidance document such as the most current revision of the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG)), in a manner that cross references the description of the hazardous material on the shipping paper with the emergency response information contained in the document. If a guide number page from the ERG is used, it must include the basic description and, if applicable, the technical name of the hazardous material. If the entire ERG is present, however, the requirements of Section 172.602 are satisfied.
Emergency response information must also be immediately available for use. Section 172.600(c) requires any person who offers, accepts, transfers or otherwise handles hazardous materials during transportation not do so unless emergency response information is immediately available for use at all times the hazardous material is present. Additionally, emergency response information, including the emergency response telephone number, must be 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, or is conducting an investigation which involves a hazardous material. Section 172.602(c) prescribes the maintenance of emergency response information. This information must be immediately accessible to train crew personnel, drivers of motor vehicles, flight crew members, and bridge personnel on vessels for use in the event of incidents involving hazardous materials. Carriers must maintain emergency response information in the same manner as prescribed for shipping papers (Subpart C of Part 172 of the HMR).
Emergency response information must be accompanied by an emergency response telephone number in accordance with Section 172.604. This telephone number must be monitored at all times the hazardous material is in transportation, including storage incidental to transportation.
