Patching or repacking a leaking container is a job for people with special training and equipment. Your role is to keep clear, keep others away, and summon emergency help if conditions warrant it.
Once an incident report has been submitted, the carrier's copy has to stay on file for a two-year period, usually at the company's main office.
Vapors and fumes released by hazardous materials drift with the wind, so moving people a good distance away and to the upwind side keeps them out of harm's way. Others need to be openly warned about the hazard, not kept in the dark.
The ERG is a U.S. Department of Transportation guide that firefighters, police, and other responders use in the early stage of a hazmat incident. It explains how to protect responders and the public, and materials can be found in it by proper shipping name or identification number, so each statement is true.
Driving a leaking hazmat vehicle at any speed leaves a trail of contamination behind it. The proper response is to stay and guard the scene while someone else goes for help, carrying your location, a description of what happened and the name of the material.
Fighting a hazardous materials fire takes special training and protective gear, so unless you have both, call the fire department, keep people away, and give the shipping papers to responders when they arrive. Opening the cargo doors would let in air and make the fire worse.
When hazmat is leaking, park, secure the area, stay with the vehicle and send another person for help with details such as your exact location, the nature of the emergency and the material involved. Driving on to look for a phone only spreads the contamination.
At a hazmat emergency, people must be kept at a distance and told about the danger, and anything that could ignite the material, such as cigarettes or open flames, must be kept away. Doing just one of these still leaves people exposed.
According to the CDL manual, property damage above $50,000 is one reason you or your employer must call the National Response Center after a hazmat incident; a death and an injury requiring hospitalization are others. Damage of just $10,000 or $25,000 does not meet that threshold.
The DOT's Emergency Response Guidebook lists the four-digit ID numbers of hazardous materials. The same numbers appear on shipping papers and placards, which lets responders identify a product quickly and find the right emergency steps.
Any device that makes a flame or spark is an ignition hazard next to explosive cargo, so reflective triangles are the safe way to warn traffic. Flares, fusees and fires of any kind are off-limits.
Tip If you haul explosives, treat any warning device that burns, even a single fusee, as an ignition source you cannot use.
PHMSA, short for Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is the U.S. Department of Transportation agency that collects these written incident reports. They are not filed with the EPA or the FMCSA.
As the person on the scene who knows what is being hauled, the driver may have to make the call, or the carrier that employs the driver may make it: the CDL manual tells drivers that they or their employer must phone, and federal rules put the duty on the person in physical possession of the material. The companies that sent or will receive the load do not make that report.
A call to the National Response Center is required when a hazardous materials incident directly causes outcomes such as a death, an injury needing hospital care, a spill, an evacuation, or a major road closure. Black ice is an everyday road hazard, not a result of a HazMat incident, so it does not trigger such a report.
Pulling wrecked vehicles apart can cause sparks, friction, or sudden jolts that might set off the explosives. The cargo therefore has to be taken out first and placed at least 200 feet from the wreck and from any building where people are present.
Class 3 flammable liquids and Class 4 flammable solids can both catch fire after a spill, so keep flames and sparks away and do not let anyone smoke near either one.
Never touch or sniff a leaking hazardous material, since some toxic vapors can hurt you even when they have no odor. To tell what is leaking, rely on the shipping papers, the package labels, or where the package sits in the load.
Anything that makes a flame, such as burning flares or fusees, could ignite an explosive load and must not be used around it. Reflective triangles warn other drivers just as well without any fire risk.
Opening the doors feeds fresh air to the fire and can make it flare up, while a closed trailer often just smolders until firefighters arrive. A driver may tackle a minor truck fire, but a burning hazmat load calls for trained responders.
Under 49 CFR 171.16, the written incident report covers more than releases: a fire or dangerous heat counts when a battery or battery-powered device causes it, and structural damage to the lading retention system of a specification cargo tank of 1,000 gallons or more counts even when nothing escapes.
CHEMTREC runs a hotline staffed around the clock that gives police, firefighters and other responders technical details about the materials involved in an incident. It is a source of information, not a cleanup service or a commanding authority.
Published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the ERG lets first responders look up a material by its ID number or shipping name and find the first steps for protecting themselves and nearby people.
Each foot a leaking vehicle travels carries the hazardous material and its risks over a wider area, so it should be moved only as far as needed for safety. After that, keep bystanders back and summon help.
Moving a leaking HazMat load only spreads the danger, so do not drive off in search of a phone. Stay parked, keep people away, try your cell phone or CB, and if you cannot reach anyone, send another person for help.
Every question in this set has its own page with the correct answer and an explanation.
