{"operation":"document","citation":"09-0154","title":"Stresau Laboratory, Inc. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2009-08-17","effective_on":null,"summary":"09-0154 response to Stresau Laboratory, Inc. concerning 171.8, 172.702.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0154.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0154.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-09-0154","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2009/090154.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department of Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration\n1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nMr. Richard Hoff\nCompliance Specialist\nStresau Laboratory, Inc.\nN8265 Medley Road\nSpooner, WI 54801\nRef. No. 09-0154\nDear Mr. Hoff:\nThis responds to your letter regarding applicability of the training requirements under the\nHazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you ask\nwhether certain company employees are subject to the training requirements of the HMR\nwhen performing a limited number of pre-transportation functions in accordance with detailed\nwri.tten instructions.\nAccording to your letter, the employees place hazardous materials in packagings and mark,\nlabel, and stencil each packaging as part of the production process. You state that these\ncompany employees are not trained as required by the HMR. The preparation of a shipping\npaper and \"final inspection\" of the package is, as you state in your letter, performed by\ncompany employees that are fully trained in accordance with HMR requirements.\nFor purposes of the HMR, a \"hazmat einployee\" is a person who, in the course of his\nemployment, directly affects hazardous materials safety and includes an employee who loads,\nunloads, or handles hazardous materials or prepares hazardous materials for transportation.\nSee 5 171.8. Your eillployees meet the detiilition for \"hazmat einployee\" in the HMR; thus,\nin accordance with 9 172.702, the employees must be trained. This training must cover the\nelements in 9 172.704. A hazardous material employee who performs any function subject to\nthe requirements of the HMR may not perforin that function unless instructed and tested in the\nrequirements of the HMR that apply to that function. See 5 172.702(b).\nI trust this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.\nSincere] y,\nHattie L. Mitchell\nChief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nSTRESAU\nL A B O R A T O R Y , I N C\nN8265 Medley Road, Spooner, WI 54801\nPhone: 715-635-2777\nFax: 71 5-635-7979\nwww.stresau.com\n\"Excellence in Energetics \"\nJune 29,2009 Office of Hazardous Materials Standards Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\nAttn: PHH- 10\nU. S. Department of Transportation\nEast Building, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE\nWashington, DC 20590-000 1\ns e ~ g ~ l s\n4 171. 9\nRe: Second Request for determination of applicability\nDear Sir or Madam,\nRecently, a group of our employees attended required retraining in the transportation of Hazardous Materials and\nDangerous Goods in accordance with the provisions set forth in Title 49, CFR, and IATA, Dangerous Goods\nRegulations. As a result of this training, question has arisen with concern to the requirements related to labeling and\npackaging items for shipment.\nIn $171.800, 1, (iii), a Hazmat Employee is defined as an employee who prepares hazardous materials for\ntransportation. According to the training instnrctor this requirement includes any label, stencil, marking or\npackaging that prepares the hazardous material for transportation, and requites any employee involved in such\npreparation to be trained and certified. This is where the problem arises and we have question as to the intent and\napplication of the regulations. /\nStresau Laboratory is primarily involveb in the development and manufacture of explosive items under DoD\ncontracts. As such, we must adhere to the packaging and labeling requirements of the contract, as detailed in DoD\ndrawings and contract language. For the most part, the packaging, labeling, marking andlor stenciling is performed\nas a part of the production process rather than by the shipping department at completion. The final inspection of the\nitems and preparation of bills of lading or other shipping documents are performed by trained and certified shipping\ndepartment personnel.\nOur opinion is that we are in conformance to the regulations by having this final preparation and shipping forms\ncompletion performed by trained and certified personnel, and that it is not necessary to train and certify all\nproduction personnel that may be involved in packaging, labeling, marking andlor stenciling. It's not necessary for\nproduction p e r s o ~ e l to be trained, as all of the packing, labeling, marking andlor stenciling is dictated by contract\nlanguage, drawings or procedure. In addition, providing training to all of our production personnel would place an\nenormous financial burden on us. We are a small company, with 80 employees, of which 43 are production\nemployees.\nAgain, we are asking for a determination as to whether or not we are correct in the opinion that our production\nemployees do not require training and certification under the regulations and our circumstances. Should you have\nany additional questions, please direct them to me at the address, phone, fax or e-mail provided. Thank you!\nCompliance ~ ~ e c i a l i s 7\n0 0 1\n5S a Wisconsin Green Tier participant","truncated":false,"body_characters":5030}