{"operation":"document","citation":"15-0071","title":"Professional Emergency Resource Services (PERS) — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2015-07-16","effective_on":null,"summary":"15-0071 response to Professional Emergency Resource Services (PERS) concerning 171.8, 172.704.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0071.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0071.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0071","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2015/150071%28corrected_outgoing%29.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\n1200 New Jersey Avenue SE\nof Transportation\nWashington. DC 20590\nMaterials Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous\nAdministration\nJUL 1 6 2015\nRick Heylmun\nProfessional Emergency Resource Services (PERS)\nP.O. Box 1560\nOgden, UT 84402-1560\nRef. No. 15-0071\nDear Mr. Heylmun:\nThis responds to your April 7, 2015 e-mail requesting clarification on the training and\nrecordkeeping requirements under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR\nParts 171-180). In your request, you stated that your company provides online hazmat\nemployee training courses to assist hazmat employers in complying with Part 172, Subpart\nH. In addition, you provided a copy of the certificate that your company gives to hazmat\nemployees who have completed the aforementioned training course. Your questions have\nbeen paraphrased and answered as follows.\nQ1. For the purpose of recordkeeping, does your company's certificate provide the\nrequired documentation for having completed your company's online training\ncourse?\nA1. Under the HMR, there is no \"required documentation\" for having completed an\nonline training course. Section 172.704(d) requires that each hazmat employer (as\ndefined in § 171.8) create and retain a record certifying the current training of each\nhazmat employee (also defined in § 171.8). No specific format is specified for the\ndocumentation of this certification. Thus, compliance with recordkeeping\nrequirements may be achieved in many ways (e.g., certificate, computer, filed index\ncards) and could involve partnerships with any organization offering training\nmeeting the needs of the hazmat employer, but responsibility for compliance with the\nrecordkeeping requirements of 172.704(d) remains with the hazmat employer.\nAccordingly, your company's certificate could be used by a hazmat employer as part\nof a hazmat employee's training record, but the hazmat employer has to certify that\nthe hazmat employee has been trained in accordance with all applicable elements of\nSubpart H-Training. Unless otherwise specified in § 172.704(a), a hazmat\nemployee's training must include: (1) general awareness/familiarization training; (2)\nfunction-specific training; (3) safety training; (4) security awareness training; and (5)\nin-depth security training. Your company's online training course appears to address\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nsome of these training elements, but it may not address all of types of training\nrequired of the hazmat employee under § 172.704(a). As you have noted in your\nrequest, \"Additional records may be maintained as appropriate by the hazmat\nemployer in order to verify that other training has been provided as required by\nPHMSA.\"\nQ2. Is it appropriate for a field investigator to subpoena or to otherwise request\naccess to the training material used in your company's online training course?\nA2. For purposes of conducting investigative duties, a Department of Transportation\nofficial or an entity explicitly granted authority to enforce the HMR may request a\ncopy of an employee's record of current training (see the introductory text in\n§ 172.704(d)). The record of current training must include a description, copy, or the\nlocation of the training materials used to meet the requirements of § 172.704(a).\nYour company's certificate of training provides a \"description\" of the training\nprovided by your company, but, as noted in the answer to the first question, it is not\nnecessarily a description of all the training required of the hazmat employee under\n§ 172.704(a).\nMoreover, the Secretary of Transportation has delegated to the Pipeline and\nHazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) the authority to perform\ninspections as part of enforcement actions to verify compliance with the Federal\nhazardous materials transportation law (see 49 USC §§ 5101-5127) and the HMR. If\nan individual or entity denies access or imposes conditions or limitations on an\ninspection, PHMSA may issue a subpoena (which may be enforced in Federal court)\nfor documents or other evidence (see 49 CFR § 107.305(b)(4)).\nTherefore, in your scenario, the certificate provided by your company might have\nprovided a description of the training materials used as part of the hazmat employer's\nefforts to satisfy § 172.704(a) and § 172.704(d); but, as part of an enforcement\naction, PHMSA may require additional information such as access to the actual\ntraining materials. In such an instance, subpoena power may be used to obtain the\ninformation if necessary.\nI hope this answers your inquiry. If you need additional assistance, please contact this\nOffice again.\nSincerely,\nActing Chief, Standards Development Branch\nStandards and Rulemaking Division","truncated":false,"body_characters":4673}