# R\+L Carriers, Inc. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation **Citation:** 11-0286 **Type / status:** guidance / guidance **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** Not stated **Published:** 2011-12-22 11-0286 response to R+L Carriers, Inc. concerning 172.201, 172.202. ## Document text <<>> u.s. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington. DC 20590 ABECn~t2t~011 Mr. Gerald A. Krisa Vice-President of Safety R+L Carriers, Inc. 600 Gillam Road Wilmington, OH 45177 Reference No. 11-0286 Dear Mr. Krisa: This is in response to your November 8, 2011 e-mail requesting clarification on the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to pre-printed bills of lading, described herein as shipping papers. Specifically, you ask whether you may provide your company's customers with pre-printed shipping papers that list the hazardous materials they commonly ship but not the quantity, package type, or weight and/or volume. You state the customers will complete this information when they offer your company their shipment for transportation. The answer is yes. Provided the shipping paper complies with the applicable requirements of the HMR, the HMR do not prohibit the use of shipping papers pre-printed with one or more hazardous material proper shipping descriptions. You also ask if an "X" may be placed in the "HM" column for the hazardous material shipping descriptions on the pre-printed shipping paper before giving it to the customers or if this field must be left blank until the material is actually being shipped. The HMR do not prohibit a pre-printed "X" from appearing in the HM column for hazardous materials that are not being shipped. The shipping paper requirement in § 172.201(a)(1)(iii) specifies that a shipping paper, containing both a regulated hazardous material and a nonregulated material, may identify the hazardous material by placing an tlX" in a column captioned "HM," or replace the "X" with an "RQ," if appropriate. The hazardous materials being shipped may be identified by the shipper entering the number of packages in the column preceding the HM column and the weight in the column following the basic description (see § 172.202(a)(5), (a)(6), and (a)(7». The absence of an entry in the quantity or weight column indicates that a material is not being shipped. I hope this satisfies your request. Sincerely, ~/d~_~72xS~..,r..·~----··· T. Glenn Foster Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Standards and Rulemaking Division <<>> £4monsoY) it'll .~oz Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) liZ· 20:3 From: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) Sent: Wednesday, November 09,2011 10:00 AM To: Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) Subject: FW: Request for Clarification Iinterpretion of 172.201 - 172.202 Hi Carolyn, We received the following request for a letter of interpretation. Thanks, Victoria Victoria Lehman Hazmat Information Center (HMIC) http://phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/info-center (202) 366-1035 From: Gerry Krisa [mailto:gkrisa@rlcarriers.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 9:32 AM To: PHMSA HM InfoCenter Subject: Request for Clarification I Interpretion of 172.201 - 172.202 November 8, 2011. Mr. Charles E. Betts Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards U.S. DOT/PHMSA (PHH-lO) 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE East Building, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20590 Dear Mr. Betts, We are a less-than-truckload motor carrier providing services including the transportation of hazardous materials. It is common for our customers to request pre-printed bills of lading for the commodities they commonly ship. I seek a clarification / interpretation on the permissibility of pre-printing bills of lading including the list of commonly shipped hazardous materials. In turn the shipper identifies only the commodities being shipped by marking the number of pieces, package type, and weight / volume, leaving the listed commodities blank in these areas. Is this an acceptable practice? Secondly, if this practice is acceptable, should the pre-printed bill of lading include an "X" in the HM column or should it be blank, unless the commodity is actually being shipped? Thanking you in advance for your guidance in this matter. I remain. 1 <<>> Gerald A. Krisa Vice-President of Safety R+L Carriers Inc. 600 Gillam Road Wilmington, Ohio 45177 www.gorlc.com Office (937) 382-1494 x-1248 Fax (937) 382-2677 2 ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa` - SHA-256: `aaf2f2e72db7a7b7a5ab6397f366b5ceea16ac395b09ef20a04cd00e7cd21bbb` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z - Exported: 2026-08-23T19:05:47.146Z - Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-11-0286` ### Source metadata ```json { "materialSubtype": "interpretation", "interpretationArea": "hazardous_materials", "representation": "full_text_from_official_pdf", "companies": [ "R+L Carriers, Inc." ], "individuals": [ "Mr. Gerald A. 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