{"operation":"document","citation":"00-0280","title":"Transportation Consulting Services — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2001-04-05","effective_on":null,"summary":"00-0280 response to Transportation Consulting Services concerning 172.604.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0280.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0280.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0280","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2000/000280.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nWashington, D.C. 20590\n400 Seventh St., S.W.\nResearch and\nAPR - 5 2001\nSpecial Programs\nAdministration\nMr. Andrew C. Rymer\nRef. No: 00-0280\nTransportation Consulting Services\nPost Office Box 592\nFulton, MD 20759\nDear Mr. Rymer:\nThis responds to your letter requesting clarification on the term \"immediate access\" as used in\n•\n§ 172.604 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180).\nAs provided by § 172.604 a person who offers a hazardous material for transportation must provide an\nemergency response telephone number. It must be the number of a person who is either\nknowledgeable of the hazardous material being shipped and has comprehensive emergency response\nand incident mitigation information for that material, or has immediate access to a person who\npossesses such knowledge and information. You are correct that the term \"immediate access\" is not\ndefined in the HMR. However, the term is intended to indicate that the emergency response\ninformation must be provided to a responder with no undue delay. Clearly, a few minutes may lapse\nduring a telephone call while the person answering the emergency response phone number locates\nspecific information on a particular product or contacts a person to provide such information.\nHowever, any delay longer than a few minutes would be unacceptable, as would any delay involving\ncall-back, such as would be necessary if the person answering the emergency response telephone\nnumber had to use a pager to contact someone with the specific knowledge about the product in\nquestion.\nWe are aware of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Information Notice 92-62 that was\nissúed to increase awareness that licensees must be prepared to respond promptly with the information\nneeded, when called. The NRC provided its opinion that emergency responders would want or expect\nthat this information be provided within 15 minutes. It is our opinion that an emergency responder\nwould want the information as quickly as possible and that, in many if not most hazardous materials\ntransportation response situations, a delay of 15 minutes would be unacceptable.\nI hope this information is helpful.\nSincerely,\nEdward T. Mazzullo ,\nDirector, Office of Hazardous\nMaterials Standards\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\n=..:\nANDREW C. RYMER\nEngrum\nTransportation Consulting Services\n0172.604\nSeptember 28, 2000\nEmergency\nMr. Delmer F. Billings\nResponse\nChief, Regulations Development\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n00-0280\nResearch and special Programs Administration\nU.S. Department of Transportation\n400 Seventh Street, S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nDear Mr. Billings:\nThis is to request clarification from the Department of Transportation, Research and\nSpecial Programs Administration, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards, regarding\nthe time frame within which the comprehensive emergency response and incident\nmitigation information specified in 49 CFR 172.604(a) must be provided. Neither the\ntext in Section 172.604 nor the clarification letters which have been issued by your office\naddress what is a reasonable time within which this information must be provided. Other\nthan the typical \"he said/she said/they said\" type references, the only written guidance\nwhich has been found to date is NRC Information Notice 92-62, issued August 24, 1992,\nwhich indicates that emergency responders would expect the required information to be\nprovided within 15 minutes.\nMy clients have put the systems in place to be capable of providing all of the elements\nspecified in your office's interpretive letters addressing what constitutes comprehensive\nemergency response and incident mitigation information. However, each time these\nentities conduct an exercise to verify the capability to provide the required information\nand demonstrate the ability to achieve regulatory compliance, the question always arises\nas to what is the time frame within which this information must be provided.\n- -\nClarification regarding the time period within which the information must be provided\nwould allow entities subject to this requirement to establish an objective performance\nstandard for their regulatory compliance program and would eliminate subjectivity in\ncompliance assessments.\nYour clarification regarding the reasonable time frame within which comprehensive\nemergency response and incident mitigation information must be provided is appreciated.\nSincerely,\nAndrew C. Rymer\n(301) 498-7952 • FAX: (301) 498-8750\nP.O. Box 592 • Fulton, MD 20759","truncated":false,"body_characters":4528}