Mr. Daniel A. Justis — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

Page 1U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20590 Materials Safety Pipeline and Hazardous Administration JUN 2 3 2016 Mr. Daniel A. Justis Marine Assurance Coordinator Foss Maritime Company 9030 NW St. Helens Road Portland, OR 97231 Reference No. 16-0033 Dear Mr. Justis: This letter is in response to your February 24, 2016, email requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to training requirements for employees. Specifically, you ask if your employees who secure rail cars containing hazardous materials on barges are considered hazmat employees and thus require hazardous materials training. The answer is yes. Except as provided in § 172.704(c)(1), a hazmat employee who performs any regulated function must be trained in the HMR requirements applicable to that function (see § 172.702(b)). Common examples of regulated functions include: (1) determining the hazard class of a material; (2) selecting an appropriate packaging; (3) filling or securing a package containing a hazardous material; (4) securing packaging closures; (5) marking and labeling a package; and (6) preparing shipping papers. In the scenario you provided, the employees are securing a package containing a hazardous material for shipment and are, therefore, subject to the training requirements. I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, T. Glenn Foster Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division#

Page 2Andrews 172.702 Goodall, Shante CTR (PHMSA) Applicabelt From: 16-0033 Sent: Geller, Shelby CTR (PHMSA) To: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 11:49 AM Subject: Hazmat Interps FW: Requesting letter of interpretation Dear Shante and Alice, Forwarded is a request for a formal letter of interpretation. Thanks, Shelby From: Dan Justis [mailto:diustis@foss.com] To: PHMSA HM InfoCenter Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 11:34 AM Cc: Whitley, Earl (PHMSA) Subject: Requesting letter of interpretation To whom it may concern, I am requesting a letter of interpretation for the below scenario. As a company we want to ensure our people are fully qualified and meet the present standards. The officers onboard the tug receive the required training as per 49CFR172.702. Scenario: We have a barge that transports rail cars on a deck barge designed to carry them from Canada to Alaska. The barge is set up to be able to transport six rows of railcars, some of them do carry hazardous materials. The majority of hazardous materials that are transported/shipped are on tank cars. The crews from the tug that tows the barge do not physically move the rail cars but do lash the cars down prior to transport. The crew unlashes the rail cars once they have reached terminal on the other side. Does the act of lashing down the rail cars on the barge constitute handling of hazardous materials, therefore requiring job specific hazardous materials training. A determination of this would be helpful to ensure we are meeting all requirements. By the way a Dangerous Cargo Manifest is generated on each shipment that does contain hazardous materials. Thank you for your help. Dan Justis 1#

Page 3FOSS Daniel A. Justis | Marine Assurance Coordinator diustis@foss.com Foss Maritime Company, 9030 NW St. Helens Road, Portland, OR 97231 T: (503) 978-6572 M: (205) 999-6356 www.foss.com 2#