Ordinarily the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest serves as both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tracking form and the shipping paper required under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). This system allows both the EPA and the DOT to enforce their respective regulations. However, there are instances where these regulations conflict.
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In a recent letter of interpretation, DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) pointed out a specific instance when an EPA hazardous waste manifest cannot be used as a shipping paper under DOT hazardous materials regulations (HMRs).
Reasonably Accurate Estimates
Item #11 of the EPA hazardous waste manifest deals with entering the total quantity of a waste. It states that “waste quantities entered should be based on actual measurements or reasonably accurate estimates [emphasis ours] of actual quantities shipped.”
A company asked PHMSA if a hazardous waste manifest may be used as a shipping paper if it provides a “reasonably accurate estimate” of the quantity of hazardous material as allowed under Item #11 of the manifest, which is codified in the Appendix to 40 CFR 262.
PHMSA officials said “no.” Although the HMRs permit an EPA manifest to be used when necessary as a shipping paper for hazardous waste, it must contain the information required for the shipping paper that is specified in the HMRs. According to the requirements for descriptions in shipping papers found at 49 CFR 172.202, the total quantity of hazardous materials covered by the description must be indicated (by mass or volume, or by activity for Class 7 radioactive materials) and must include an indication of the applicable unit of measurement.
When Estimates Are Allowed
There are exceptions in 49 CFR 172.202 for when total quantity estimates may be used. These are:
- Hazardous materials in salvage packagings;
- Bulk packages and cylinders, provided that some indication of total quantity is shown;
- Packages that contain only residues; and
- Individual total quantities for dangerous goods in machinery or apparatus contained in the article (applicable to transportation by aircraft).
A Note for Your Drivers
Another query to PHMSA addresses a driver mixing two separately manifested hazardous wastes. According to PHMSA officials, commingling and subsequent transportation of separately manifested hazardous wastes must be reflected on a new shipping paper that accurately describes the hazardous material in its revised state.
By mixing the material together, the driver created a different material with potentially different hazard properties than the properties the materials exhibited separately. In this case, also, by mixing the materials, the driver assumed the functions of a shipper and is responsible for complying with all applicable shipper functions, such as properly classifying, packaging, marking, and labeling the hazardous materials for transportation.
Shipping Paper Violations
Shipping paper violations continue to rank high on DOT’s list of hazardous materials transportation violations uncovered during roadside inspections. A common shipping paper violation has to do with the description of the hazardous materials.
The number and type of packages must be indicated either before or after the required basic description. The type of package must be a description of the package that is a commonly recognizable package type. An example given is “12 drums.”
Takeaway for EHS Managers
Environment, health, and safety (EHS) managers who are shipping hazardous waste must not assume that the manifest is good to go in every instance.
A reasonably accurate estimate, as allowed by EPA manifest regulations, may only be used for those materials where estimates of quantity are allowed in the HMRs. All other materials require the exact quantity of hazardous materials covered by the description.