How to make your shipping papers and chart 13 work for you

Anyone who's been dealing with hazardous materials for any length of time knows that you should never assume anything about your hazmat load. Along with making assumptions, comes Murphies Law - "If it can go wrong, it will". Here is a case in point:

A Realistic Placard Scenario

A driver picks up his load along with the hazmat shipping papers as required, and notices the trailer is not placarded. The driver then fails to take a couple of easy steps to keep himself out of trouble. First, he really should have gone back into the office to seek someone with some knowledge and asked some questions. Second, he doesn't take the time to look at his shipping papers to see what he's hauling and how much. Had he taken a look at his shipping papers, they would have told him the following: Hazard class 5.2, other than organic peroxides, which is a table 2 product. He was also transporting less than 1,001lbs, for which no placards are required.

The driver then tries to rectify his perceived placarding issue by opening the company policy manual to the section entitled 'Subsidiary Placarding'. He again assumes that subsidiary means that he can substitute (a logical assumption, based on word association but a bad one none the less!) one type of placard for another. He chooses 'Dangerous when Wet' and then proceeds to placard his vehicle. The placards on the vehicle now misrepresent the hazard, and now he can be placed out of service per North American Standards out of service criteria. The driver could potentially face being given a ticket, not to mention what the company will say about the out of service violation going against their safety rating.

The above story is not meant to cast any dispersion on drivers or insult them. There's a lot of pressure to get the truck loaded and the product off to the customer as quickly as possible. It illustrates what can happen when your rushed, forget your training and start assuming that you have everything under control. So what's a driver to do?

Company policy manuals are fine, but there are two documents that you should have with you at all times while hauling hazmat. The first and obvious, is the shipping papers for the load. Other than a few exceptions (it wouldn't be hazmat without exceptions!) the shipper can't ship without them, and you can't transport the load without them. For placarding purposes, they will tell you the hazard class of the material and the amount or weight being shipped. Shipping papers are the backbone of hazmat transportation and if you take a moment to look at the information they're presenting you, you're on your way to keeping Murphy away!

The second important document to have with you is a DOT Chart 13 (formerly the chart 12) . The chart 13 is the full color chart with pictures of all the placards, labels and markings on them. On the back of the chart it lists  table1 and table 2 commodities and gives other helpful placarding rules to help you.

If you've thrown it away after the company handed them out you can go to the Pipleline and Hazardous Materials Administration's (PHMSA) website and obtain the "Hazmat Safety Pack" for free that includes a chart 13 as well as tons of other useful information. Once you get your chart, keep it in your briefcase or with the rest of your documents and refer to it every time you pick up a hazmat load.

Checking your placards

Here's an example of how you can use these two items together to help you determine placarding. First let's look at our shipping papers which show the following:

QTY PSN Weight

8 drums     UN1090, Acetone, 3, PGII       1200 lbs

We know what we're hauling (Acetone, hazard class 3) and how much (8 drums, 1200lbs), let's take a look at the chart 13. On the back of the chart in the lower left hand corner, we see an area that says 'Placarding Tables' and the regulation reference of 172.504(e). There are two tables, Table 1 placard any quantity and Table 2 placard 1,001 pounds or more. Continuing to look at the tables let's look at the left column head that says 'Category of material (Hazard Class or division number and additional description, as appropriate)'. The hazard class is the same number you see on shipping papers and in the lower corner of placards. The right side column of each table is titled 'Placard name'.

Now let's put all this information together to determine if our shipment is required to have placards, and if so, what placard we should place on the vehicle. The shipping papers tell us that the hazard class of Acetone is 3. Taking that info we look at the placarding table on the chart 13. Looking at Table 1 (placard any amount) there is no hazard class 3 listed, so we know that we're not dealing with a Table 1 product.

Moving on to Table 2 we can see that hazard class 3 is listed in the lefhand column. Since Table 2 products have a weight requirement (1,001 pounds) we need to look at our shipping papers and determine if our product weighs more than 1,001 pounds. We're hauling eight drums that weigh a total of 1200 pounds, so the 1,001 pound requirement has been met. Does our shipment require placards? Yes!

We know we need placards for a hazard class 3 material so let's open up the chart 13. If you open the chart like a book you'll notice it doesn't read like a book, the text and pictures are vertical. Turning the chart horizontal so that it can be read, the placards with their appropriate hazard classes are on the bottom. We simply look at class 3 placards, of which there are four choices and determine which one we need. There's no need to worry about which of the four pictured placards to pick. If you use the one that says 'Flammable' no matter what hazard class 3 product your hauling, your good! Also note that there are flammable hazard class 3 placards that have no writing on them. Those are acceptable as well, however they are not pictured in the chart 13.

What is aggregate gorss weight?

The gross weight is the weight of the package plus its contents. Aggregate means you add all the packages together. For figuring out whether or not you need to placard for a Table 2 product you add all Table 2 products together.

For example

600lbs of a hazard class 3 (table 2) by itself would not require placards (less than 1,001 pounds). If you had 600lbs of a hazard class 3 (flammable) and 600lbs of hazard class 8 (corrosive) they are added together, which of course gives you 1200lbs. You would then have to placard for both hazard class 3 and 8.

When figuring out aggregate gross weight for a table 2 product you do not use any table 1 product. Remember that table 1 products have to be placarded for any amount. Exceptions also exist for table 2 products transported as 'Limited quantity' and 'Small quantity', so do not figure those products into your aggregate gross weight calculation. I know, your thinking "How will I know if its a limited quantity or small quantity?" It will say so right on your shipping papers. Yet another good reason to take a look at your paperwork!

There are two hazard classes (5.2 and 6.1) that appear on both tables 1 and 2 on the chart 13. If you're dealing with either one of those hazard classes, read your shipping papers very carefully, and then read 'the fine print' on the chart13. If you don't, you could very easily find yourself in an out of service condition or fined, or both.

Here some general guidelines on how placards need to be displayed on your vehicle:

• Visible from the direction faces.
• Must be securely attached (can' be peeling, hanging off)
• Clear of appurtenances such as ladders, pipes, doors, etc
• Be located so that dirt or water can't be splashed on it from the wheels
• Located away from advertising
• Must read horizontally (square on point)
• Be on contrasting color
• Color, legibility and visibility not reduced or deteriorated

Let's do a quick recap on checking your placards:
1. Read your shipping papers, know what you have. Know the name of the product, what is its hazard class is, and how much of it you have.

2. Take that information and plug into the Table 1 and Table 2 requirements on your DOT chart 13. If its a Table 1 product, any amount of it will have to be placarded. If it's a Table 2 product, you must have 1,001 pounds of it before you put on placards.

3. If your required to have placards, match the hazard class you see on your shipping papers to the placards on the chart 13 and apply the appropriate placard. If you already have placards on your vehicle, are they the right ones?

Understand also that there are a lot more placarding requirements and exceptions in the regulations than I have given here. This article is only a general guide on how to check your placards. If you would like to read the regulations on placarding, they are contained in 49 CFR 172.500 section of the transportation regulations.

The last and best piece of advice I can give you is...If you don't know, ask someone! There's always somebody with more hazmat experience than you who can help you out. Don't think you know, or take a guess, make it your business toknow. Don't be in such a hurry that you cut corners and take shortcuts.

Remember, Murphy is always waiting just around the corner.