{"operation":"document","citation":"05-0091","title":"Airgas, Inc. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2005-05-03","effective_on":null,"summary":"05-0091 response to Airgas, Inc. concerning 172.604.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0091.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0091.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0091","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2005/050091.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nJ.S. Department\nof Transportation\nWashington, D.C. 20590\n400 Seventh Street, S.W.\nPipeline and\nMAY 3\n2005\nAdministration\nHazardous Materials Safety\nMr. John Anderson\nReference No.: 05-0091\nDirec:or of DOT Operations\nP.O. Box 20067\nAirgas, Inc.\nCheyenne, WY 20067\nThis responds to your letter regarding the emergency response telephone number\nrequirements under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180).\nYou ask whether a telephone number that provides the caller an automated option for\nforwarding the call to CHEMTREC or a similar emergency response service is\naccep:able.\nThe answer is yes. As required by § 172.604, the emergency response telephone number\nmust be monitored at all time the hazardous material is in transportation by a person who\nis either knowledgeable of the characteristics of the hazardous material and has\ncomprehensive emergency response information, or has immediate access to a person\nwho possesses such knowledge. It is the opinion of this Office that a telephone number\nwith a one-stroke patch-through capability to CHEMTREC or a similar emergency\nresponse service satisfies the requirement of \"immediate access to a person with detailed\nemergency response information.\"\nI trust this satisfies your request.\nSincerely,\nHille eithell\nHattie L. Mitchell\nChief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n$172.604\n050091\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nAirgas\nJohn Anderson\nCorbin\nAirgas, Inc.\nDirector of DOT Operations\nPO Box 20067\n$172.604\nCheyenne, WY 82003\nhttp://www.airgas.com\n(307) 778-8809 Fax: (307) 778-7497\nmergency kesponse\njohn.anderson@airgas.com\nApril 8, 20C5\nNumber\nHattie Mitchell\n05-0091\nRegulatory Review - DHM-12\n400 Seventh St. SW\nWashington, DC 20590\nDear Ms Mitchell:\nPer our phone conversation on 4/8/2005, I would like to follow-up with a request for a\nwritten interpretation. You have verbally stated the following practice is acceptable, but\nwe would like a written response for our files.\nAirgas would like to implement an emergency response telephone number that would\nwork as follows. The telephone number would be displayed on our hazardous material\nshipping paper as our Emergency Contact (per 49 CFR 172.604). It would state to call\nthis number \"In the event of Spill, Leak or Emergency During Transportation\". When a\ncall is placed to this phone number, an automatic attendant (non-human) would answer\nwith the following options.\nOption 1 - \"If this is a spill, leak or emergency during transportation press 1\". The\ncaller would then be automatically connected to CHEMTREC or a CHEMTREC-type\nemergency response service.\nOption 2 - \"If this is a non-emergency but you would like to speak to the Airgas\ncustomer service department for product outage, trouble shooting, etc., please press 2.\"\nThe caller would then be connected to the Airgas answering service that would take\ndown the caller's information and an Airgas employee would return their call.\nAs I explained today during our telephone conversation, Airgas receives over 400 non-\nemergency after-hour calls per year. These calls are often placed through a phone\nnumber set aside/noted as an emergency response telephone number.\nThe above\nsolution is our attempt to meet the requirements of 49 CFR 172.604 and also be able to\nprovide after-hours assistance to our customers who experience a non-emergency.\nOur experience is that human nature will always result in someone calling a 1-800 for\nassistance in a non-emergency situation, even if the number is boldly noted as an\nemergency response telephone number.\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\n-\nWith the Cctober 1, 2005 effective date of HM-206B, Airgas wants to ensure our\ncompliance. We have recently received two citations because of confusion over our\nCHEMTREC emergency response telephone number and our attempt to handle these\nnon-emergency type calls through an Airgas answering service.\nThank you for your prompt response to this request.\nJohn Anderson\nDirector of DOT Operations\nAirgas, Inc.\n2","truncated":false,"body_characters":4003}