Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Research Paper

Total Length: 957 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 2

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Most state and federal regulations related to the transportation of hazardous materials were first established in 1975 with the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. The Act broadly defines hazardous materials as anything that “may pose an unreasonable risk to health and safety or property,” (OSHA, 2017). In practice, hazardous materials generally include explosives, hazardous waste, gasses, radioactive material, flammable or combustible materials, and harmful chemicals. However, each state would have its own regulations, which sometimes conflicted with neighboring states or federal regulations. Further complicating the issues related to safe transport of hazardous materials was the fact that a large number of federal, state, and local agencies would have different jurisdictions and subject to different regulations or laws, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Federal Railway Administration (FRA), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 2017).



In 1990, Congress passed the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act (HMTUSA) to clarify and standardize regulations related to the safe transport of hazardous materials. Moreover, recent regulations are designed to harmonize with international standards “in order to facilitate foreign trade and maintain the competitiveness of U.S. goods,” (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 2017). Military shipments of hazardous materials are generally exempt from state and federal regulations; otherwise, all commercial shipments are subject to federal laws related to occupational safety and the HMTUSA.

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In general though, federal law ultimately requires that every driver carrying hazardous materials must be made aware of their role and must have received proper training and certification within the state issuing their commercial drivers’ license. In fact, all hazardous material must be “properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled, and in condition for shipment as required or authorized,” (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 2017). Thus, in addition to a commercial drivers’ license (CDL), “federal and state laws require a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) endorsement on your CDL before you can legally transport hazardous material,” (“HAZMAT Endorsement,” 2017). Because of the legal requirements to label and license drivers transporting hazardous materials, it is impossible for a driver to legally remain unaware of the contents of the shipment.



Different licensing and certification processes continue to complicate matters related to hazardous materials transport, though. In addition to different processes of acquiring both the CDL and the HAZMAT endorsements within each state, each commercial driver must also pass a TSA security assessment—essentially a type of criminal….....

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References

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (2017). How to comply with federal hazardous materials regulations. Retrieved online: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hazardous-materials/how-comply-federal-hazardous-materials-regulations

“HAZMAT Endorsement,” (2017). DMV.org. Retrieved online: https://www.dmv.org/cdl/hazmat-endorsement.php

OSHA (2017). Transporting hazardous materials. United States Department of Labor. Retrieved online: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trucking_industry/transportinghazardousmaterials.html

State of California Department of Motor Vehicles (2017). Section 9: Hazardous Materials. Retrieved online: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/cdl_htm/sec9

United States Department of Transportation (2017). Table 2-6: Hazardous Materials Fatalities, Injuries, Accidents, and Property Damage Data. Retrieved online: https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_02_06.html

“Yearly Incident Summary Reports,” (2017). Retrieved online: https://hip.phmsa.dot.gov/analyticsSOAP/saw.dll?Dashboard
 

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