Miscellany from PHMSA

PHMSA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) under docket HM-218G, proposing a range of amendments to the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). Many of the amendments derive from PHMSA’s extensive review of previously issued letters of interpretation and the changes will also include the incorporation of one widely used special permit. The changes have little in common, but include:

(a) adding a reference to the Sulphur Institute’s Molten Sulphur Rail Tank Car Guidance document to the list of information materials not requiring incorporation by reference (§171.7);

(b) revising the Hazardous Materials Table (§172.101) to correct errors under the proper shipping name ‘Hydrazine Dicarbonic Acid Diazide’ and to remove the entry under ‘Zinc ethyl, see Diethylzinc’;

(c) revising special provision 138 (§172.102) to clarify the lead solubility calculation for classification of a substance as a marine pollutant;

(d) removing references to special provisions B72 and B74 in §172.102;

(e) revising the shipping paper requirements (§172.203(e)) to permit the phrase ‘Residue last contained’ before or after the basic shipping description sequence;

(f) updating the training recordkeeping requirements (§172.204) to specify that the employer must make training records available on request;

(g) clarifying that the material of trade exception (§173.6) may be used when transporting Division 2.1 and 2.2 gases in Dewar flasks;

(h) clarifying the lab pack provisions (§173.12) pertaining to temperature- controlled materials;

(i) clarifying the exceptions for external emergency self-closing valves on cargo tank motor vehicles for cryogenic liquids (§173.33(g));

(j) incorporating special permit DOT SP- 13556 to authorise the transport by ‘sharps’ in non-DOT-specification containers on wheeled racks (§173.134);

(k) revising requirements to cargo air transport of alcoholic beverages to align with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Technical Instructions (§173.150);

(l) clarifying the exceptions for non-spillable batteries secured to skids or pallets (§173.159a);

(m) clarifying the applicability of the notification requirements for packages containing residues (§178.2(c));

(n) clarifying the inspection record requirements for discharge systems of cargo tanks transporting liquefied compressed gases (§180.416); and

(o) clarifying the requirements for the flame penetration resistance test for oxygen generators and certain compressed gases in Appendix E to Part 178.

The full text of the NPRM can be found at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-04-26/pdf/2012-9895.pdf. Comments are requested by June 25.