The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration or PHMSA has proposed a new rule that seeks to “modernize and simplify” hazardous material transportation regulations across highway, rail, and maritime shipping modes.
[Above image by USDOT]
The agency said in a statement that its notice of proposed rulemaking or NPRM specifically seeks to update and modernize hazmat regulations to accommodate the latest technologies, business practices, and understandings of hazardous materials, including updates in packaging practices for hazmat transportation.
Highlights of the proposed rule include:
- Reducing burdens for U.S. truck drivers by simplifying hazard communication requirements for fuels including gasoline that are transported in tanker trucks;
- Encouraging innovation and safety improvements to hazardous materials rail cars by reducing review times for tank car design improvements and addressing National Transportation Safety Board recommendations regarding improved design standards for rail tank cars;
- Modernizing standards for essential agricultural equipment by codifying manufacturing standards for newly built fertilizer tanks and permitting the use of video and fiber optics technologies when inspecting and calibrating cargo tanks in both agricultural and non-agricultural operations.
The proposed rule – submitted to the Federal Register on October 4 – also seeks to support supply chains vital to the transportation sector, PHMSA stressed; “ensuring manufacturers can safely and affordably get resources they need to make, package, and ship goods to markets across America and throughout the world,” the agency noted.
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