Safety Advisory Guidance From PHMSA: Heating Rail Tank Cars to Prepare Hazardous Material for Unloading or Transloading

Published July 12, 2013 in the Federal Register (FR Vol. 78, No. 134, 41853), the Safety Advisory is issued by the PHMSA of the USDOT in coordination with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and in consultation with the Federal Railroad Administration of the USDOT. Its scope is limited to those persons who heat a rail tank car to prepare its hazardous material contents for unloading or transloading (defined below). Its purpose is to prevent accidents that occur as a result of the heating of hazardous materials contained in rail tank cars. To achieve its purpose, this Safety Advisory:

Provides safety precautions and recommended guidance for persons engaged in heating a hazardous materials in a rail tank car for the purpose of unloading and transloading, and;
Reminds subject persons of current regulatory requirements for these activities.

Current Regulatory Requirements:

The Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR) of the PHMSA/USDOT at 49 CFR Parts 171-180 apply to the transportation in commerce of HazMat by air, rail, highway, and vessel. The term “transportation” includes rail tank car loading and unloading incidental to movement and rail tank car transloading operations. However, the HMR generally does not apply to tank car unloading operations conducted at the receiving facility (consignee) after the rail tank car has been delivered. The HMR contains regulations (49 CFR 174.67 for rail tank car transloading operations) that, if followed, should prevent accidents caused by the heating of HazMat in rail tank cars. Current regulatory requirements for a person involved in the transloading of HazMat in rail tank cars include:

Triennial training of HazMat Employees.
Written safety procedures governing transloading operations.
Safety procedures immediately available to employees responsible for rail tank car transloading.
Measures to prevent movement of the rail tank car during transloading.
Secure access to the track where transloading operations take place.
Rail tank car must be attended or monitored as all times during transloading operations.

OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard at 29 CFR 1910.119) contains requirements for processes that use, store, manufacture, handle, or transport highly hazardous chemicals on-site. This includes the bulk loading and unloading operations and other operations that involve PSM-covered chemicals. The PSM standard requires the following of employers:

Compile process safety information (PSI).
Perform a process hazard analysis.
Develop and implement written operating procedures.
Training of applicable employees.

Also, the OSHA regulations at 29 CFR 1910.120 – Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) require training for workers exposed to hazardous substances, health hazards, or safety hazards before performing hazardous waste operations and emergency response.

Under its General Duty clause, the USEPA requires facilities to identify the hazards associated with an accidental release of an extremely hazardous substance and to design and maintain a facility to prevent such releases. Some facilities may also be subject to the requirement to develop a Risk Management Plan (RMP) which includes accident prevention measures similar to those of OSHA’s PSM. USEPA requires other emergency planning and prevention that may apply to a facility that loads or unloads rail tank cars, they are:

40 CFR Part 68 – Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions
40 CFR Part 112 – Oil Pollution Prevention

Guidance for Heating of Rail Tank Cars for Unloading or Transloading:

This guidance from the PHMSA is based on the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its investigation of two accidents that occurred due to the heating of HazMat in rail tank cars, they include:

Develop written safe operating procedures to be used when HazMat is heated in a rail tank car for unloading or transloading.
Be knowledgeable of the chemical properties of all HazMat involved in the heating process and monitor the operation of heating the rail tank car as necessary.
Designate an employee to be responsible for monitoring the heating process. Designated employee should have the knowledge to know what to do in an emergency and the authority to take responsive action.
Train HazMat Employees involved in heating rail tank cars for unloading or transloading on the function specific responsibilities of their job.

It is important to note that in the case of the current regulatory requirements, there is nothing new announced in this Safety Advisory. The regulations referenced have been in affect for years. And the guidance measures included in this Safety Advisory contain no binding regulatory requirements. However, it is certain that the PHMSA takes this issue seriously. Therefore, if your operations require the heating of a hazardous material in a rail tank car during unloading or transloading, I strongly encourage you to heed both the current regulatory requirements referenced and the guidance measures recommended by the PHMSA. Be sure to read the full Safety Advisory.

Transloading means the transfer of a hazardous material by any person from one bulk packaging to another bulk packaging, from a bulk packaging to a non-bulk packaging, or from a non-bulk packaging to a bulk packaging for the purpose of continuing the movement of the hazardous material in commerce.

I can answer any questions you may have about transporting hazardous materials and can provide both HazMat Employee training and annual training for Hazardous Waste Personnel required by the USEPA. Please contact me with questions.