U.S. Department of Transportation
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm

Enforcement Notice

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
September 2005 Notice of Hazardous Materials Regulations Enforcement

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today gave notice to the regulated industry and its stakeholders of the hazardous materials civil penalty case it closed in the month of September 2005 for violations of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) (49 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 171 – 180). For calendar year 2005, PHMSA has closed a total of 292 hazardous materials civil penalty cases and collected $1,196,996 in penalties.

It is the task of PHMSA's inspection and enforcement staff to improve compliance with the safety and training standards of the HMR by inspecting companies and individuals who offer hazardous materials for transportation or who manufacture, maintain, repair, recondition or test packages authorized for transporting hazardous materials.

Total number of cases – 1
Total civil penalties – $5,920

Hazardous Materials Initiatives and Training:

PHMSA uses a number of tools in meeting its goal to improve hazardous materials safety. Enforcement is but one useful safety tool and training is another. The PHMSA Office of Hazardous Materials Initiatives and Training (OHMIT) provides products and programs that aid the regulated industry’s compliance with the HMR. Last year, the PHMSA Hazmat Safety Assistance Team reached over 13,000 individuals in the hazmat community, provided over 330 hazmat awareness presentations, and distributed over 40,000 standard information packets. The OHMIT training program includes Multimodal Hazardous Materials Transportation Training Seminars held throughout the country that drew nearly 1,000 participants last year. For fiscal year 2006, seminars are planned for Dallas, TX, December 6-7, 2005; Seattle, WA, March 14- 15, 2006; Newark, NJ, May 16-17, 2006; and Chicago, IL, August 22-23, 2006. For more information on hazardous materials seminars and one day work shops, go to the PHMSA hazardous materials web site at http://hazmat.dot.gov/training/training.htm.

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