# Airgas SAFECOR — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** 10-0207  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 2011-03-24

10-0207 response to Airgas SAFECOR concerning 180.205.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE
Washington. D.C. 20590
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
MAR 242011
Mr. Jon Anderson
Airgas SAFECO R
P.O. Box 20067
Cheyenne, WY 82003
Reference No.: 10-0207
Dear Mr. Anderson:
This responds to your email requesting clarification applicable to the use of Department of
Transportation (DOT) specification cylinders under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR;
49 CFR Parts 171-180). Your questions are paraphrased and answered as follows:
01. If a cylinder is marked with a DOT specification marking, must it be maintained to that
specification when it is no longer in commerce?
AI. The answer is yes. Cylinders that are filled and used solely on a private work-site and not
offered for transportation in commerce are subject to the Occupation Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) Standards. In accordance with OSHA standard 29 CFR
§ 1910.101, each employer shall determine that compressed gas cylinders under their
control are in a safe condition to the extent that this can be determined by visual
inspection conducted as prescribed in the HMR, specifically 49 CFR § 180.205.
Therefore, based on § 180.205(b), which states no person may mark a cylinder to
represent that it meets a DOT specification unless all applicable requirements. of 49 CFR
subpart C of Part 180 have been met, a cylinder that is marked to certify that it conforms
to HMR requirements must be maintained in accordance with applicable specification
requirements in the HMR whether or not it is in transportation in commerce. If the owner
of the DOT specification cylinder wishes to continue to use the cylinder but does not
wish to re-qualify the cylinder as a specification cylinder, the owner must obliterate or
cover any specification markings whether or not it is being used to transport hazardous
materials in commerce.
02. If an individual has the ability to fill its own DOT specification cylinders and use them
entirely on private property, does DOT have jurisdiction over these cylinders?
A2. Cylinders that are filled and used at a private work-site and not offered for transportation
in commerce are not directly regulated under the HMR, but in fact come under the
jurisdiction of Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards. It
should be noted that based on 29 CFR § 1910.101, if the owner of the cylinder wishes to

<<<PAGE 2>>>

fill and continue to use the DOT specification cylinder but does not wish to re-qualify the
cylinder as a DOT specification cylinder, they must obliterate or cover any specification
markings even when used entirely on private property.
03. . If a customer has a tube trailer that contains DOT specification cylinders that are past
their requalification test date can these cylinders be filled and used on-site? Does the
DOT have jurisdiction over these cylinders?
A3. Cylinders that are filled and used at a private work-site and not offered for transportation
in commerce are not directly regulated under the HMR, but in fact come under the
jurisdiction of OSHA. It should also be noted that based on 29 CFR § 1910.101, if the
owner of a tube trailer containing DOT specification cylinders that are past the
requalification test date wishes to fill and continue to use a tube trailer containing DOT
specification cylinders on-site, the owner must retest and mark the cylinders in
accordance with appropriate specification in the HMR or, as an alternative, obliterate or
cover any specification markings.
I hope this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
-/AO-/b ~~
~Xles E Betts
Director,
Standards and Rulemaking Division

<<<PAGE 3>>>

l6-ene dIet~j1'3·o01
Drakeford. Carolyn (PHMSA) 5 ISO. ADj
From: Betts, Charles (PHMSA)
Sent: Monday, October 04,20106:47 PM
To: Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA)
Subject: Fw: DOT Letter of Interpretation we spoke about today
From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) [mailto:John.Anderson.SAFECOR@Airgas.com]
Sent: Monday, October 04,2010 06:40 PM
To: Chaney, Wayne (PHMSA); Cassidy, Duane (PHMSA)
Subject: DOT Letter of Interpretation we spoke about today
Good evening,
This is the Letter of Interpretation that we spoke about today. Our main question is - Does the DOT still stand behind the
statement that if the cylinder is marked with a DOT specification that is must be maintained to that specification regardless
if it is in commerce?
Example - if a customer has the ability to fill their own cylinders (such as a 3AA) on site and use them on site does the
DOT have jurisdiction over these cylinders?
Example - if a customer has a tube trailer with out of test tubes (such as 3AAX.) but has them filled on site and uses the
product from the tubes on site does the DOT have jurisdiction over these tubes?
Thank you,
John Anderson
Airgas SAFECOR
P.O. Box 20067
Cheyenne, WY 82003
Phone 1-307-778-8809
Fax 1-307-778-7497
john.anderson@airgas.com
1

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2010/100207.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `37a8dfb55ef8264acd036ef575b7392230fd4bc24bf120f094d5b8b9274c5c3e`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T21:39:17.124Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-10-0207`

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