{"operation":"document","citation":"04-0112","title":"Innovative Container — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2004-08-13","effective_on":null,"summary":"04-0112 response to Innovative Container concerning 178.503.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-04-0112.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-04-0112.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-04-0112","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2004/040112.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nof Transportation\nU.S. Department\n400 Seventh St., S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nSpecial Programs\nResearch and\nAdministration\nAUG 13 2004\nPresident\nMr. Chad Odom\nRef. No. 04-0112\nInnovative Container\nP.O. Box 8837\nGreenville, SC 29604\nDear Mr. Odom:\nThis is in response to your letter requesting clarification of certain marking\n(HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you ask whether your marking\nprocedures are in compliance with the HMR. You state that your company\nmanufactures UN specification drums and marks them \"UN 1H2/Y200/S/03/USA\";\nhowever, the drums are not marked with the manufacturer's registered symbol or name\nand address until a customer submits an order for a UN specification drum. Your\nreason for following this procedure is that at the time of manufacture, it is not known\nwhether you will be selling the drums to a customer who will fill the drums with\nhazardous or non-hazardous materials.\nRegardless of whether the drums are to be used for the transportation of hazardous\nmaterials, marking your drums \"UN 1H2/Y200/S/03/USA\" represents the drums as\nbeing manufactured to the marked UN standards. Omitting the manufacturer's symbol\nor name and address does not negate the representation that the marking\n\"UN 1H2/Y200/S/03/USA\" indicates to users, shippers, and others that the drums\nconform to the standards as marked. You state that the omission of the information\ncertified\" as being in conformance with the UN standards. Such a provision is not\nis \"the recognized means of communicating to drum users that the packaging is not\nauthorized under the HMR. Therefore, marking the drums \"UN 1H2/Y200/S/03/USA\"\nand omitting the manufacturer's symbol or name and address does not conform with\n§ 178.503(a)(8).\nThe attachments you submitted indicate that the UN design qualification tests have not\nqualification testing to be performed at the start of production of each new or different\nbeen performed on these marked drums. Section 178.601(d) requires successful design\npackaging. Performing the design qualification testing after the manufacturing process is\n040112\n178.503\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\ncompleted is contrary to the HMR. With respect to the pre-marking of the drums, except\nas provided in § 178.2(c), a new drum may not display UN markings unless the drum\nfully conforms to the standards for which it is marked (see §§ 171.2 (c) and (f), and\nI hope this information is helpful. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate\nto contact this office.\nSincerely,\nHathe & Mithill\nHattie L. Mitchell\nChief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\ninnovative\nCONTAINER\nApril 22, 2004 DRAFT\nPERFORMANCE UNDER\nPRESSURE\nGreenville, SC 29604\nP.O. Box 8837\nPhone: (864) 422-1700\nEdward Mazzullo\nFax: (864) 422-1701\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\nResearch & Special Programs Administration\nMCIntyre\nU.S. Department of Transportation\n$178.503\nWashington, DC 20590\nMarkingof Packagings\nRe:\nRequest for interpretation;\n49 CFR 178.503\n04-0112\nDear Mr. Mazzullo:\nOn behalf of Innovative Container of Greenville, SC, I am writing to request an\ninterpretation of the marking provisions of the hazardous materials regulations.\nInnovative Container is a manufacturer of new plastic drums for shipment of hazardous\nand non-hazardous materials.\nNOTATTACHED -\nCALLED $\nASKED\nOn March 17, 2004, we were sent a \"Letter of Warning\" from RSPA's College Park, GA,\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Enforcement (copy attached). While not imposing a\npenalty, the letter indicates that the practices followed by Innovative Container may be a\nviolation of the regulations, and that \"substantive recurrence of this probable violation...\nmay subject\" the company to additional enforcement action. The regional office\nencouraged us to seek an interpretation from the Office of Standards; hence this letter.\nIn the company's manufacture of new plastic drums, UN \"first line\" performance\ninformation is molded into the drum as a permanent mark. If the drum is sold to a\nhazmat customer, the second line identification of the manufacturer or third-party\ncertifier is added, completing the UN certification required for hazmat packaging under\nSec. 178.503\nUnder Sec. 178.503(a)(1)-(11), a complete UN mark, including so-called first and\nsecond-line information, is required to certify compliance with the UN performance\nstandard. For a steel drum, omission of the identity of the certifying party is the\nrecognized means of communicating to drum users that the packaging is not certified as\nbeing in conformity with the UN performance standards. A steel drum manufacturer's\nfirst-line partial mark, embossed on the bottom of every metal drum over 100 liters\ncapacity, only gives pertinent \"birth certificate\" information about the original\nperformance capabilities of the packaging, even though it includes the UN initials. That\npartial mark alone does not constitute a certification. The certification must be provided\nby the manufacturer's (or subsequent reconditioner's) complete first and second-line UN\nmark on the top or side of that drum. After the first reconditioning process removes the\n\n<<<PAGE 4>>>\n\noriginal manufacturer's durable compiete UN mark, the partial embossment remains, but\nthat partial mark still cannot be relied upon by any filler unless or until someone applies a\nnew complete UN mark.\nInnovative is following the same policy with respect to their plastic drums. An\nincomplete marking is not intended to be a certification of compliance. If and when we\nsell packaging for hazardous materials service, we complete the UN marking by affixing\na durable indication of the certifying third-party test laboratory. In turn, any\nreconditioner who removes that durable mark must restore the complete UN mark before\noffering the reconditioned packaging for hazardous materials service.\noffered for such service, is so marked. A copy of that test report is enclosed. → NOT ENCLOSED\nThe design type in question has been third-party tested for hazardous materials and, when\nWe employ the marking methods for steel drums in the manufacturer of our plastic drums\nbecause the alternative would be to apply a full UN mark on every drum. Such a\nhat the drum continues to meet the UN standards, regardless of what service it has bee\nermanent complete mark would constitute an unending certification by our compan\nin, who may have reprocessed or reused it, or its current condition. That is why we\nfollow the marking practices that have worked for the past ten years in the steel drum\nfield.\nWe are not asking for any rule change to describe this practice, but we are concerned\nwith the contention by the RSPA inspector that what we have done constitutes a\nmarking practice is not a violation.\nviolation. We would appreciate your concurrence that, as the rules are written today, this\nPlease let me know if you have any questions on this request.\nChad Co\nChad Odom, President","truncated":false,"body_characters":6947}