PHMSA 36-16 Thursday, December 15, 2016 PHMSA Issues Safety Advisory on Use of DOT-39 Cylinders for Liquefied Flammable Compressed Gas. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a safety advisory informing offerors or anyone using a DOT Specification 39 (DOT-39) cylinder that cylinders with an internal volume […]
I have written several times about “vehicle impact protection” for our hazardous materials processes and systems and these articles have garnered a lot of attention, as it seems a lot of folks were not aware there was an actual design basis for these protective members. Here is a video (WARNING! MUTE the sound!!) that shows us
The 2015 IFC section 312.3 now provides performance criteria for vehicle barriers instead of prescriptive design that was missing an impact velocity.
Yesterday morning around 3:30 am, hazmat crews detonated explosives and ignited the flammable contents of two tank cars, one was propane and one was butane, involved in a train derailment in MN. The explosions were designed to pierce the hulls of two cars, one carrying propane, the other butane. Incident Command determined that the “vent
This article is intended to walk us through the DOT requirements for UNLOADING LPG and NH3 tanker trucks. In the DOT requirements covered in this article, we will see items that mirror OSHA’s PSM and EPA’s RMP requirements for DOCUMENTING Safety Systems and their intended functions. The material covered here should be incorporated into all
The information in this report is preliminary and will be supplemented or corrected during the course of the investigation. On August 27, 2016, about 8:26 a.m. eastern daylight time, tank car AXLX 1702, specification DOT 105J500W, experienced a sudden tank shell crack shortly after it was filled with liquefied compressed chlorine at a rail car
Fire and Building Code Officials are likely seeing the new Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and new Safety Data Sheets with new chemical hazard pictograms. This ICC FACT SHEET is intended to provide Fire and Building Code Officials information relative to the modified OSHA Hazardous Communications Standard (HazCom) and address the potential impacts to
In my HAZMAT classes, I always ask the question: A container of diesel fuel is at its flash point, and a gasoline container is at its flash point – an ignition source is present within the container – which container ignites first? Nearly 100% of the students will say the gasoline container and nearly 100% are
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is seeking comment on proposed revisions to the U.S. Hazardous Materials Regulations to maintain alignment with international standards. The changes – which include revisions to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quantity limitations, and vessel stowage requirements – facilitate the
No, not directly, but they did issue this Safety Advisory: Possession or Use of Battery-Powered Portable Electronic Smoking Devices Around, On or While Operating a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) relating to the possession and use of battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices (e.g., e-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, personal vaporizers, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). In this Safety Advisory, the
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in conjunction with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), is issuing this safety advisory to provide notice of emergency discharge control equipment connected to and installed on cargo tank motor vehicles, which when improperly installed, do not operate correctly and can result in total loss of power to the cargo
