{"operation":"document","citation":"15-0156","title":"Toyota Materials Handling Northeast Inc. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2015-08-28","effective_on":null,"summary":"15-0156 response to Toyota Materials Handling Northeast Inc. concerning 173.159.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0156.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0156.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-15-0156","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2015/150156.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nof Transportation\nU.S. Department\nWashington, DC\n1200 New Jersey Avenue SE\n20590\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety\nAdministration\nAUG 2 8 2015\nMr. Barry Partlow\nToyota Materials Handling Northeast Inc.\n2564 Industry Lane\nNorristown, PA 19403\nRef. No.: 15-0156\nDear Mr. Partlow:\nThis is in response to your July 27, 2015 letter requesting clarification of exceptions for lead\nacid (wet) batteries under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-\n180). Specifically you request confirmation that you may transport lead acid batteries in\naccordance with the exception prescribed in § 173.159(e) in a company vehicle or if this\nexception only applies to battery vendors.\nSection 173.159(e) provides relief from the requirements of the HMR for highway or rail\nshipments of electric storage batteries containing electrolyte or corrosive battery fluid\nwithout limiting the exception to a certain transporter type. Provided the conditions\n§ 173.159 (e)(1) through (4) are met, the batteries may transported in a company vehicle and\nare not otherwise subject to the HMR.\nI hope this information is helpful. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to\ncontact this office.\nSincerely,\nDuane Plund\nInternational Standards Coordinator\nStandards and Rulemaking\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nWener\n$173.159(e)\nBatteries\n15 - 0156\nTOYOTA\nTOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING NORTHEAST\nU.S. DOT\nPMHSA Office of Hazardous Materials Standards\nAttn: PHH-10\nEast Building\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.\nWashington, DC 20590-0001\nOur company is a full service forklift dealer offering sales, service, parts, and rentals. We\nhave three locations; Norristown, PA serving the Philadelphia area and Southeastern PA,\nCinnaminson, NJ serving Southern NJ, and Hanover, MD serving the Baltimore area and\nEastern MD. We operate a rollback truck at each location for the purpose of picking up\nand delivering forklifts and attachments. This includes electric powered trucks which use\nvery large lead acid industrial batteries. For the near 30 years that I have been in this\nindustry we have operated under the premise that we could transport these batteries if\nthey were properly installed in a forklift but could not if they were not (i.e. on a pallet).\nOn the occasions which we need to move a battery by itself, either to a customer location\nor from one of our locations to another, we have always used our battery vendor to\ntransport them or have had to install them in a truck and move the truck as well. These\nscenarios leave us with either a large amount of additional work to install and remove\nfrom a truck or at the will of our vendors who often do not share the same urgency to take\ncare of our customers as we do. A recent event in which our vendors failed to help us and\nour customer out during an urgent situation has left us questioning why our vendor can\ndeliver these batteries but we can't.\nWhen I started looking into the regulations my interpretation was that there was no\nreason that we couldn't. According to 49 CFR 173.159(e)\n(e) When transported by highway or rail, electric storage batteries containing electrolyte\nor corrosive battery fluid are not subject to any other requirements of this subchapter, if\nall of the following are met:\n(1) No other hazardous materials may be transported in the same vehicle;\n(2) The batteries must be loaded or braced so as to prevent damage and short circuits in\ntransit;\n(3) Any other material loaded in the same vehicle must be blocked, braced, or otherwise\nsecured to prevent contact with or damage to the batteries; and\n(4) The transport vehicle may not carry material shipped by any person other than the\nshipper of the batteries.\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nWanting to be sure of my interpretation I emailed PMHSA with my question. I received a\nreturn phone call. The woman I spoke with agreed with me until I described to her our\nbusiness as I did to you earlier in this letter. Her position then changed and she felt that\nthese would be Class 8 Corrosives under the Materials of Trade. Going by several letters\nof interpretation I've read on your website if we are performing all the procedures to\nprepare the batterys) for shipment and are in compliance with\n49 CFR 173.159 (e) (1-4) that we are the transporter regardless of ownership and are fine\nto transport these battery (s) without being placarded.\nWe are seeking a letter of interpretation in this matter as it pertains to our company so we\nmay establish a Standard Operating Procedure that may allow us to better serve our\ncustomers but will assure that we remain compliant with related regulations.\nYour help in clearing this up for us would be greatly appreciated. I would be pleased to\nprovide any additional information you may need\nSincerely,\nBarry Partlow\nFleet, Safety, and Training Manager\nToyota Material Handling Northeast Inc.\n2564 Industry Lane\nNorristown, PA 19403","truncated":false,"body_characters":4879}