{"operation":"document","citation":"21-0056","title":"Truck and Bus Compliance — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2024-06-17","effective_on":null,"summary":"21-0056 response to Truck and Bus Compliance concerning 171.8, 173.6.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-21-0056.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-21-0056.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-21-0056","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2024-06/210056.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety\nAdministration\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE\nWashington, DC 20590\nJune 13, 2024\nLew Snearly\nTrucknbus.net\n22 Vics Court\nAlbany, NY 12205\nReference No. 21-0056\nDear Mr. Snearly:\nThis letter is in response to your May 19, 2021, email requesting clarification of the Hazardous\nMaterials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to the Materials of Trade\n(MOTs) provisions in § 173.6. Specifically, you ask whether your client—a furniture\nmanufacturer supplier—is eligible for MOTs provisions under the HMR when transporting and\ndelivering a glue used in the furniture manufacturing business classified as “UN1593,\nDichloromethane solution, 6.1, PG III.\n” You describe a scenario in which your client sells the\nglue product to furniture manufacturers and transports the material in 5-gallon pails marked and\nsecured as required for MOTs.\nThe answer is no. In accordance with § 171.8, a MOT means a hazardous material—other than a\nhazardous waste—that is carried on a motor vehicle and meeting one of the following\nrequirements:\n(1) For the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the motor vehicle operator or\npassengers;\n(2) For the purpose of supporting the operation or maintenance of a motor vehicle\n(including its auxiliary equipment); or\n(3) By a private motor carrier (including vehicles operated by a rail carrier) in direct\nsupport of a principal business that is other than transportation by motor vehicle.\nIn the scenario that you provided, the material “UN1593” is being transported in commerce and\nis being delivered to the purchaser of the hazardous material. The hazardous material is not for\nthe purpose of protecting the health and safety of the motor vehicle operator or passengers, or for\nthe purpose of supporting the operation or maintenance of a motor vehicle (including its\nauxiliary equipment). Although the transportation described is by private motor carrier, the\nhazardous material is not being utilized by the carrier in direct support of a principal business\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nthat is other than transportation by motor vehicle but rather is being sold and delivered to a\ncustomer. Therefore, the transport of this material in this way does not meet the definition or\nrequirements for MOTs. An example of transportation that would be included in the scope of\ncriteria #3 above would be a furniture repair company transporting a hazardous material for its\nuse in the repair of furniture.\nI hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.\nSincerely,\nShane Kelley\nDirector, Standards and Rulemaking Division\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nGeller\nFrom: INFOCNTR (PHMSA)\nTo: Hazmat Interps\nSubject: FW: Materials of Trade exemption\nDate: Monday, May 24, 2021 11:13:50 AM\nAttachments: image002.png\n21-0056\nHello,\nBelow is a request for letter of interpretation.\nThanks,\nJonathon, HMIC\nFrom: PHMSA Pipelinesafety\nSent: Saturday, May 22, 2021 1:12 PM\nTo: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) <INFOCNTR.INFOCNTR@dot.gov>\nSubject: FW: Materials of Trade exemption\nGood afternoon,\nThe inquiry below relates to PHH matters. that would be great. Many thanks!\nOffice of Pipeline Safety\nU.S. Department of Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\n1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, West Building\nWashington, DC 20590\nOffice: 202-366-4595 ◊ Fax: 202-493-2311\nPHMSA Home | LinkedIn | Twitter | HAZMAT | OPS\nIf someone from your team could respond,\n-----Original Message-----\nFrom: Lew Snearly [mailto:trucknbus@earthlink.net]\nSent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 1:19 AM\nTo: PHMSA Pipelinesafety <PHMSA.Pipelinesafety@dot.gov>\nSubject: Materials of Trade exemption\nCAUTION: This email originated from outside of the Department of Transportation\n(DOT). Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and\nknow the content is safe.\n\n<<<PAGE 4>>>\n\nPipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration\nAttn: PHC, US Department of Transportation\nI am requesting a formal letter of interpretation regarding the Materials of Trade\nexemption.\nI am a consultant and I work with a company that is a private motor carrier and they\nmanufacture foam. They sell the foam and other materials (staples, fabric, adhesives)\nto furniture manufactures, boat manufactures, upholsterers, and such.\nMy client ships 5 gallon pails of 6.1 PG III UN1593 Dichloromethane solution and\nduring a recent driver meeting I told them that they could ship this product under the\nMOT exemption. All the drivers were trained by me in the MOT exemption. The\ndriver when asked told the trooper that he had two (2) 5 gallon pails of\nDichloromethane solution on the truck and that they were shipping these pails under\nthe MOT exemption. The company had the package secured against movement in a\nbox that was also secured against movement. The packages did not leak.\nThe trooper placed the driver OOS for:\n1. No shipping papers\n2. No markings on the box. The 5 gallon pail was inside a box and the 5 gallon\ncontainer was properly marked and sealed with no leaks.\nThe trooper indicated that since they are manufacturing and transporting the\nproducts to sell to a third party, then they wouldn’t receive the MOTS exception. I see\nnothing in the MOT exemption that would support this statement. My client is a\nprivate motor carrier and they own the products they sell and they are not\ntransporting these products for another company.\nI have other clients that deliver and sell MOT items (lighters, matches, WD-40, small\npropane and Map gas cylinders, Sterno, and many other hazardous materials that\nmeet the MOT exemption) plus food and other items to small grocery stores. Would\nthese customers be excluded from the MOT exemption because they sell these\nproducts to the stores?\nI can understand that the box was not marked and in the future we will mark the box\nwith a proper shipping name and orientation arrows. However in the MOT brochure it\nspecifically states “that are secured against movement in cages, bins, boxes, or\ncompartments”. I do not see anything that indicates the outer packaging needs to be\nmarked. I can understand that this would be a good idea but I cannot determine that\nthis is a requirement.\nThank you for your time and expertise.\n\n<<<PAGE 5>>>\n\nLew Snearly\n22 Vics Court\nAlbany, NY 12205\nTrucknbus.net\n518-466-9866\nfax 456-1616","truncated":false,"body_characters":6362}