# American Marine Express — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **operation:** document - **citation:** 14-0177 - **title:** American Marine Express — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **source type:** guidance - **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration - **status:** guidance - **official:** true - **published on:** 2015-03-31 - **effective on:** Not available - **summary:** 14-0177 response to American Marine Express concerning 171.8. - **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-14-0177.json - **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-14-0177.md - **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-14-0177 - **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2015/140177.pdf **body:** <<>> of Transportation U.S. Department Washington, DC 20590 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Materials Safety Pipeline and Hazardous Administration MAR 3 1 2015 Mr. Randy Wheaton 765 E 140# ST American Marine Express Cleveland, OH 44110 Ref. No.: 14-0177 Dear Mr. Wheaton: This responds to your September 23, 2014 letter requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to training requirements. In your letter, you describe customer service employees who contact hazardous materials shippers by phone to schedule appointments for drivers to pick up freight in overseas containers. You also describe dispatchers who speak to drivers who pick up containers with hazardous materials and transport them to rail roads for domestic transportation and export. To be proactive, your company may request that the shipping documents be sent to the freight forwarders, who then confirm the information is correctly documented. You ask whether these customer service employees and dispatchers are "hazmat employees" as defined in § 171.8 of the HMR. The answer is no. The definition of "hazmat employee" reads in part that a person, who in the course of employment, directly affects hazardous materials transportation safety; loads, unloads, or handles hazardous materials; prepares hazardous materials for transportation; is responsible for the safety of transporting hazardous materials; or, operates a vehicle used to transport hazardous materials. A third party logistics company or broker who contracts with a carrier to transport a shipment on behalf of the original shipper is not considered an offeror for purposes of the HMR unless it also performs one or more pre-transportation functions to prepare the shipment for transportation in commerce I trust this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, Alenn Foster T. Glenn Foster Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division <<>> Andrews $171.8 Definition 14-0111 From: Randy Wheaton [mailto:randyw@amxtrans.com] To: PHMSA HM InfoCenter Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 3:36 PM Cc: Julie B Subject: Interpretation request Hello, Our office is trying to get clarification on a term that seems vague in the category of exactly who it is that falls into the heading of a Hazmat Employee! The term we are having issues with is "is responsible for the safety of transporting hazmat". We have Customer Service people in our office who contact hazmat shippers by phone to schedule appointments for our drivers to arrive and pickup this freight in overseas containers. To be proactive in getting the rail billing in place, we at times request the documents from the shippers solely to forward to the Freight Forwarders, who confirm the info is correctly documented and forward on to the Steamship lines who ultimately confirm and forward to the rail roads Hazmat departments for confirmation and data entry into their systems. We also have dispatchers who speak with the drivers who pickup hazmat goods in full container loads and transport them to the rail roads for domestic transportation and export freight. Neither one of these jobs really seem to fall into this "Is responsible for the transportation" category. The Shippers provide the documents. The Forwarders confirm the documents. The Forwarders send the documents to the rails and the drivers pickup, transport and deliver to final destination. Can you clarify if our dispatchers and customer service roles fall into this category or not? Randy Wheaton AMX Dispatch & Customer Service PH 216-268-3005 FX 216-268-3006 2 <<>> Dodd, Alice (PHMSA) From: Ciccarone, Michael CTR (PHMSA) Sent: To: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 1:23 PM Subject: Hazmat Interps FW: Interpretation request Shante and Alice, Please submit this for a formal letter of interpretation. Thanks, Mike Sent: Tuesday, September. 23, 2014 7:34 AM From: Randy Wheaton [mailto: randyw@amxtrans.com] To: Ciccarone, Michael CTR (PHMSA) Subject: RE: Interpretation request Mike, We are at address below, please direct to me, thank you. American Marine Express 765 E 140th St Cleveland OH, 44110. Randy Wheaton AMX Dispatch & Customer Service PH 216-268-3005 FX 216-268-3006 From: m.ciccarone.ctr@dot.gov[mailto:m.ciccarone.ctr@dot.gov] Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 4:29 PM To: Randy Wheaton Subject: RE: Interpretation request Dear Randy, hazardous materials regulations (49 CFR Parts 171-180). we have received your request for a written letter of interpretation regarding the Please include your company's physical address to expedite the submission process. Sincerely, Mike, Hazardous Materials Specialist An e-mail response from this office is considered informal guidance. Formal guidance may be requested in accordance with 49 CFR 105.20. http://phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/regs/interps - **truncated:** false - **body characters:** 4908