PHMSA Amends Hazmat Provisions on Marking, Dangerous Cargo Manifests
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a final rule amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to clarify and relax provisions related to marking of packaging, record retention, treatment of certain materials, and location of the dangerous cargo manifest on vessels in U.S. ports. The changes are effective May 6. Highlights of the final rule include:
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Manufacturer and lab marks. The rule revises 49 CFR 178.3 to explicitly say that a manufacturer or third-party laboratory mark may not be used when continued certification of a packaging is conducted by someone other than the original manufacturer or third-party testing laboratory, unless specifically authorized by the original manufacturer or third-party testing laboratory.
Retester recordkeeping. PHMSA is amending Sections 178.601(l), 178.801(l), and 178.955(i) to relax the record retention requirements for packaging test reports and provide a chart to clearly identify the recordkeeping requirements. The final rule adds the word “required” before “periodic retest” so that records of retests only have to be maintained for five years.
Remove gasohol listing. The final rule amends the Hazardous Materials Table at 49 CFR 172.101) by removing the listing for “NA1203, Gasohol, gasoline mixed with ethyl alcohol, with not more than 10% alcohol”; and removing reference to gasohol in Sections 172.336(c)(4) and 172.336(c)(5). PHMSA said these removals harmonize the regulations with international standards.
Self-reactive materials. PHMSA is revising Section 172.101, which will refer to Section 173.151 and provide a limited quantity exception for Division 4.1, Self-reactive solids and Self-reactive liquids, Types B through F.
Smokeless powder. PHMSA’s final rule will allow smokeless powder classed as a Division 1.4C material to be reclassed as a Division 4.1 material to “relax the regulatory requirements for these materials without compromising safety,” the agency said.
Dangerous cargo manifest. The final rule allows the dangerous cargo manifest (DCM) to be in locations designated by the master of the vessel besides “on or near the vessel’s bridge” while the vessel is in a U.S. port. This change will ensure that the DCM is readily available to communicate to emergency responders and enforcement personnel the presence and nature of the hazardous materials on board a vessel, PHMSA said.
(See ITT’s Online Archives 12042609 for summary of the proposed rule, which was adopted in its entirety with the exception of a provision incorporating an ASTM standard on resin tolerances in polyethylene drums and IBC material.)