Interpretation Response #98-0276 ([Special Police Officer] [Mr. Mel vonSoosten])

Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.

Interpretation Response Details

Response Publish Date: 04/08/1999

Company Name: Special Police Officer

Individual Name: Mr. Mel vonSoosten

Location State: FL Country: US

View the Interpretation Document

Response text:

APR 8, 1999

Mr. Mel vonSoosten                           Ref. No. 98-0276
Transportation Compliance Specialist
Special Police Officer
4685 Rosebud Street
Cocoa, Florida 32927

Dear Mr. VonSoosten:

This is in response to your letter dated September 4, 1998, regarding the proper description of hazardous materials on a shipping paper and the emergency response information required under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-­180).  Specifically, you submitted nine shipping paper exhibits and one emergency response exhibit prepared by your clients for our review.

Under §§ 172.200(a) and 173.22(a)(1), it is the shipper's responsibility to properly describe a hazardous material on a shipping paper.  Routine compliance reviews of shipping papers are not normally conducted by this office.  Mr. Michael Stevens of my staff identified several entries to you as in error.  Without referring to each document individually, we offer the following observations:

1.    The HMR do not apply to a material not meeting the definition in 49 CFR 171.8 of a hazardous material.

2.    The requirements for describing hazardous materials on a shipping paper are specified in Part 172, Subpart C, of the HMR.  Hazardous materials must be clearly identified when described on a shipping paper with materials not subject to the HMR.  All required information must be legible as proscribed in § 172-201.

3.    A hazardous material must be described using a proper shipping name, hazard class, identification number, and packing group, as shown in the § 172.101 Hazardous Materials Table (HMT).  A shipping paper must include the basic, description, in proper sequence, as required in § 172.202 (a) and (b).  Any additional information required by § 172.203 must be placed after the basic description, unless otherwise permitted.  The type of packaging, quantity shipped, and destination marks are the only entries
permitted to precede the basic description and may berepeated after the basic description.  A shipper's certification statement must appear on the shipping paper as required by § 172.204.

4.   Shipping papers in columnar form may have an "HM" column, quantity or type of packaging, e.g., 10 steel drums, entered before the required basic description.  Other columns, e.g. product code, must follow the basic description information.

5.   The required shipping description may not contain any code or abbreviation, unless specifically authorized.

6.   The requirements for specific content, providing, and maintaining emergency response information are specified in Part 172, Subpart G, of the HMR.  The emergency response exhibit submitted appears to contain all of the required information specified in § 172.602(a), however, the basic description and, if applicable, technical name for the material being transported must Also be shown on the document as specified in § 172.602(b)(3)(iii).

7.   A copy of 49 CFR Parts 100-185 may be ordered from a Government Printing Office bookstore.  The volume can also be accessed on the internet at website
"www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfk-retrieve".

We trust this satisfies your request.  Please contact us if we can be of more assistance.

Sincerely,

Hattie L. Mitchell, Chief
Regulatory Review and Reinvention
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards

172.201

Regulation Sections