The top hazardous materials (hazmat) transportation violation uncovered by Department of Transportation (DOT) roadside inspectors since 2013 is unsecured packages in vehicles, accounting for nearly 10% of hazmat violations. You may think your hazmat package is secure in the vehicle, but the important question is whether the DOT roadside inspector thinks so. We’ll take a look at a couple of scenarios where a roadside inspector may disagree or agree with the way you secured your hazmat.
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Pallet Problems
Say you’re loading and securing a number of pallets for a hazmat shipment. You have four drums loaded on each pallet, and you have shrink-wrapped the drums to the pallet. In addition, you have placed heavy cardboard on top of each set of four drums banded to a pallet.
Then you loaded an even number of the pallets side by side in a freight trailer with about 3–4 inches (in.) of void area between them. You’ve secured the pallets closest to the freight container door with two straps.
Good to go?
No, according to officials at DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). When answering a query regarding this scenario, PHMSA said that this loading and blocking method would make it difficult, if not impossible, to nail a 2×4-in. piece of wood blocking to the freight container floor in the void area. PHMSA felt that this particular blocking method makes it highly unlikely for the drums to shift or fall to the extent that they become damaged.
According to PHMSA, the 3- to 4-in. space between the pallets provides 1 foot or more of space in which the end pallets can shift during transportation. Hazmat rules for loading packages require that hazmat packages that are not permanently attached to a motor vehicle be secured against shifting, including relative motion between packages when being transported under normal transportation conditions, including, but not limited to, starting, stopping, and cornering; accident avoidance; and varied road conditions.
Who Is Responsible for Unsecured Package?
You’re a commercial carrier that transports trailers loaded by offerors. Your driver is tooling down the road with a hazmat load from a shipper/offeror. The driver is stopped by a roadside inspector who determined that the interior cargo, which was not visible from or assessable from the end of the trailer, was not secured.
As it turns out, your driver did not participate in the loading but did provide a general inspection of the open trailer. The driver verified that the cargo visible at the tail of the trailer was properly secured.
Did your driver exercise reasonable care or should he or she be cited as part of the enforcement action?
According to PHMSA officials, in this case, the shipper performed and was responsible for the loading and package securement of the shipment. The driver was allowed to rely on information provided by the shipper unless he or she had knowledge that the information provided by the shipper was incorrect.
Since the driver did not participate in the loading or have access to the full interior of the loaded trailer, then he or she would have relied on the shipping paper and accompanying certification that the packages were in proper condition for transportation, including being properly secured. Unless the carrier or driver had actual or constructive knowledge that the interior packages were not properly secured, there was no reason for the driver to refuse the shipment.