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Department of Transportation (DoT)
The text of the section is as follows:
Although the National Response Center is the sole federal point of contact for reporting oil and chemical spills, the DoT (http://www.dot.gov) is tasked with “coordinating a national safety program for the transportation of hazardous materials by air, rail, highway and water”(http://www.dot.gov/safety.html).
A “Hazardous Materials Incident” has to be reported to the
DoT, and new rules are in effect for incidents on or after January 1,
2005. An interesting collection of statistics regarding DoT incidents
in 2004 can be found here:
http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/inc/data/2004/2004frm.htm.
After “flammable-combustible liquids” with 6,181 incidents, incidents involving corrosive substances are the second most common reported incidents: in 2004 the DoT reports 5,321 such incidents. These incidents resulted in 1 death, 12 major injuries and 76 minor injuries, plus damage of more than $ 8 million (http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/inc/data/2004/2004class.pdf). |
Within the DoT, the “Office of Hazardous Materials Safety
(OHM) formulates, issues and revises Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR) under the Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation
Law. The HMR cover hazardous materials definitions and classifications,
hazard communications, shipper and carrier operations, training and security
requirements, and packaging and container specifications.”(http://hazmat.dot.gov/enforce/spills/spills.htm).
The “Emergency Response Handbook” is published
every few years (latest in 2004) from the OHM. This is a very valuable
resource for fast reference information in case of an emergency: http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/erg/gydebook.htm.
It can be downloaded (big file!) or you can search it online. It is also
available in Spanish and French!
(…you may want to check this reference for the assignment…)
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Module 3
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