Texas Highway Patrol — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

Page 1U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration May 24, 2019 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Brad Gibson Sergeant, Texas Highway Patrol 6200 Guadalupe Street, Building P Austin, TX 78752 Reference No. 18-0146 Dear Sergeant Gibson: This letter is in response to your November 13, 2018, email requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to placarding. In your email, you describe a scenario in which a motor vehicle was placarded to indicate a Class 8 corrosive material, but upon inspection of the vehicle, you found that it was transporting packages classed as Other Regulated Material (ORM-D). However, the hazardous material in question was a Class 8 corrosive material prior to being reclassified as ORM-D. Specifically, you ask whether this scenario is acceptable within the HMR. The answer is yes. Section 172.502( c) states that placards may be displayed for a hazardous material, even when not required, if the placarding otherwise conforms to the requirements of this Subpart F - Placarding. Additionally,§ l 72.502(a)(l) states that placarding is permitted when the material being offered or transported is a hazardous material, the placard represents a hazard of the hazard material being offered or transported, and any placarding conforms to the requirements of Subpart F. While the material in question may have been reclassified as an ORM-D, the material still presents a Class 8 (corrosive) hazard and therefore a Class 8 placard is acceptable. I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, ~r#~~ T. Glenn Foster Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Standards and Rulemaking Division#

Page 2f_A.J de~. . :~ I 7 2 . :5-CfO Ct,:)) ( z.J It- QJ <!£ Dodd, Alice (PHMSA) From: Sent: To: Subject: Follow Up Flag: Due By: Flag Status: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) Tuesday, November 13, 2018 1:50 PM Hazmat Interps FW: Request for Formal Letter of Interpretation Follow up Friday, November 16, 2018 11:00 AM Flagged Hello Alice and lkeya, Please see Brad Gibson's email below for an official letter of interpretation request. Molly (HMIC) spoke with Brad over the phone before he sent in his request. Thanks, Lynsie Lynsie Patschke Transportation Regulatory Specialist Hazardous Materials Information Center Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 202.366.4488 lynsie.patschke.ctr@dot.gov From: brad.gibson dps.texas.gov Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2018 11:56 AM To: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) <INFOCNTR.INFOCNTR@dot.gov> Cc: Cottle, John <John.Cottle@dps.texas.gov> Subject: Request for Formal Letter of Interpretation To whom it concerns, Please allow this email to serve as a request for a formal written interpretation from PHMSA concerning the following question. Is a vehicle transporting a Class 8 hazardous material, that has been properly classed as an ORM-D, permitted to display Corrosive placards (172.502(c)) or is placarding of the vehicle not allowed since no placard exists under Table 2 for the ORM-D category of material (172.504(e))? The usage of the word "classed" in 172.S00(b)(2) is also a point of contention and confusion regarding this issue, given that it tends to lead someone to believe that once someone "classes" a hazardous material as an ORM-D, that the original hazard class is no longer available for permissive placarding purposes. I would like to thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter, as it is greatly appreciated. 1#

Page 3My mailing address is as follows: 6200 Guadalupe St., Bldg. P Austin, TX 78752 Brad Gibson Sergeant, Texas Highway Patrol Division Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Training Unit (512) 486-6481 - Office (Austin) (512) 424-2539 - CVE Training (Austin) brad.gibson@dps.texas.gov 2#