# UPS — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** 13-0056  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 2013-04-05

13-0056 response to UPS concerning 173.4.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

U.S. Department ofTransportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590
APR 0 5 2013
Mr. Matthew Maslanka
Division Manager
UPS
21 00 Center Square Road. Suite 400
Logan Township, NJ 08085
Ref. No.: 13-0056
Dear Mr. Maslanka:
This is in response to your March 4, 2013 letter requesting clarification of the requirements in
the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CPR Parts 171-180) applicable to training
requirements.
In the scenario you provide, the shipper prepares small quantity packages in accordance with
§ 173 .4. Your company then collects the packages and returns them to your terminal where the
packages are sorted, weighed and routed via domestic ground transportation. Specifically, you
ask whethet employees handling a product that meets the small quantity requirements of
§ 173.4 are subject to the training requirements of Subpart H in Part 172.
The answer to your question is no. Materials which meet the requirements of§ 173.4 are not
subject to any other requirements of the HMR. Therefore, persons who handle shipments of
hazardous materials under the provisions of§ 173.4 are not subject to the formal training
requirements of Subpart H in Part 172, unless they perform other hazardous materials
transportation functions.
I hope this information is helpful. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to
contact this office.
-
m~-
Delmer Billings ~
Senior Regulatory Advisor
Standards and Rulemaking Division

<<<PAGE 2>>>

UPS
Matthew Maslanka
21 00 Center Square Road, Suite 400
Logan Township, NJ 08085
856-467-5077
MMaslanka@ups.com
Dear Mr Betts,
Enclosed is a sample of a product that one of our customer ships on a monthly basis. All the boxes are
individual. They have documentation the shows that the product conforms with 49 CFR 173 .4. I have
enclosed those letters. They prepare all the boxes, we pick them up and bring them back to our
location, sort them, weigh each package, move product on ground transportation throughout the
country, and induct to the USPS for final delivery.
My question is: Do all my employees need documented Hazardous Training? Does the training need to
be completed and documented every 3 years? What kind of training if any needs to be completed?
I appreciate any guidance or ruling you can provide back to me in writing so we are not at risk for
OSHA or any violations.
If you can give an immediate since the customer wants to start next week.
Matthew Maslanka
Division Manager, UPS

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2013/130056.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `510112abb9dc41d01ccc2ccbaa1bc5d0b55dff75b13b922606b723d68a4a418f`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T02:55:04.628Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-13-0056`

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