Is Your Hazmat Shipment Secure? Three Scenarios
by Clare Condon
Unsecured packages are the top hazardous materials violation uncovered so far in fiscal year (FY) 2016 in U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) roadside inspections. Today we will look at three scenarios in which DOT said packages were or were not secured properly.
Tip. Shippers are responsible for making sure that their shipments are compliant with DOT’s packaging requirements. If a carrier repackages a hazardous material, the carrier must meet the requirements of the packaging regulations as well, because the carrier is then functioning as a shipper.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs) concerning securing packages in motor vehicles, found at 49 CFR 177.834, require that packages that contain a hazardous material and are not permanently attached to a motor vehicle, be secured against shifting, including relative motion between packages under conditions normally incident to transportation. Packages that have valves or other fittings must be loaded in such a way to minimize the likelihood of damage during transportation.
Although Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations provide general requirements for protection against shifting packages found at 49 CFR 393.100 to 393.106, PHMSA’s HMRs do not provide specific methods for securing hazardous materials packages in a motor vehicle. However, PHMSA does provide some incite when asked about specific scenarios. Let’s take a look at a few of these letters of interpretation regarding packages that contain hazardous materials.
Scenario 1: Shrink-wrapped and strapped
One company sent a photograph showing a row of pallets loaded side-by-side with four drums per pallet with a space between pallets and a second row of pallet containing 5-gallon pails that were shrink-wrapped together and to the pallet. Two straps secured the load.
Although PHMSA officials would not say that the particular load was secure based on the photo, they did say that securing the load by shrink wrapping the packages to the pallet and strapping the pallets in place is a compliant method for securing the load.
Scenario 2: What is “relative motion”?
Another company wanted to know what PHMSA means by the requirement that packages be secured against shifting, including “relative motion” between packages.
Although PHMSA officials did concede that “relative motion between packages” does not mean “zero motion,” they did say that the HMR for securing packages containing hazardous materials is a higher standard than FMCSA’s general requirements. According to PHMSA, hazmat packages must not shift during “conditions normally incident to transportation.”
These conditions include “vehicle starting, stopping, cornering, accident avoidance, and varied road conditions”. In other words, packages containing hazardous materials must not shift anytime the vehicle is moving! Shifting, according to PHMSA, “involves a change in place or position of the package from the original place or position it occupied” when it was loaded onto the vehicle. This would seem to mean that the package is not allowed to move at all.
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However, in conceding that “relative motion” does not mean “zero motion” PHMSA did say that packages containing hazardous materials must be secured against shifting and relative motion “to the greatest extent practicable.”
Tip. We can only take this to mean that it is up to the DOT roadside inspector to determine if your package is properly secured. Since, so far in FY 2016, unsecured packages are the top hazmat violation for trucks, it seems that inspectors are holding the requirement against shifting to a very high standard.
Scenario 3: Carriers and sealed trailers
Here’s a scenario where a commercial carrier transports trailers that are loaded and pre-sealed by the shipper/offeror. The carrier’s driver is stopped by DOT roadside inspectors and ordered to open the trailer. If the inspector deems the packages are not secured properly, the driver receives the citation.
PHMSA officials say that in this scenario, where the motor carrier has no way of inspecting the load, the responsibility for compliance “could” fall on the shipper/offeror. This gets a little hazy, though. Although a carrier can rely on the information provided by the offeror’s, there are some caveats. The carrier can rely on the offeror’s information unless the carrier knows or, a reasonable person exercising reasonable care, would have knowledge that the information provided by the offeror is incorrect.
An example of reasonable care, according to PHMSA, could be where the trailer is not sealed until after the carrier’s personnel, or someone acting on its behalf, examines the trailer for proper securement of packages.