An impending Department of Transportation rule will expand enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rule, which takes effect May 2, gives DOT inspectors the right to open and inspect packages suspected of being non-compliant or undeclared hazmat, and the authority to “issue emergency orders, restrictions, prohibitions, and recalls in response to imminent hazards.”
“This rulemaking is another step in ensuring the safe transportation of hazardous materials by providing our inspectors the authority to conduct thorough investigations, to remove non-compliant packages from transportation, and to recall packages that could pose a significant threat to the public and the environment,” PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman said in a statement.
Each year, about three billion tons of hazardous materials are transported in the United States, and nearly all of the shipments move through the system “safely and without incident,” PHMSA said.
But the agency said it has long considered undeclared shipments of hazardous materials to be a “serious safety issue.”
