Hazardous Material Shipping Paper Retention and Recordkeeping Requirements

Unless exempted by regulation, all shipments of hazardous materials must be accompanied by a shipping paper, the basic requirements for which are provided at 49 CFR 172, Subpart C. All persons involved in the transportation of a hazardous material, including a hazardous waste, should be familiar with these regulations particularly the requirements for HazMat shipping paper retention and recordkeeping found at §172.201(e):

Retention and Recordkeeping. Each person who provides a shipping paper must retain a copy of the shipping paper required by § 172.200(a), or an electronic image thereof, that is accessible at or through its principal place of business and must make the shipping paper available, upon request, to an authorized official of a Federal, State, or local government agency at reasonable times and locations. For a hazardous waste, the shipping paper copy must be retained for three years after the material is accepted by the initial carrier. For all other hazardous materials, the shipping paper must be retained for two years after the material is accepted by the initial carrier. Each shipping paper copy must include the date of acceptance by the initial carrier, except that, for rail, vessel, or air shipments, the date on the shipment waybill, airbill, or bill of lading may be used in place of the date of acceptance by the initial carrier. A motor carrier (as defined in § 390.5 of subchapter B of chapter III of subtitle B) using a shipping paper without change for multiple shipments of one or more hazardous materials having the same shipping name and identification number may retain a single copy of the shipping paper, instead of a copy for each shipment made, if the carrier also retains a record of each shipment made, to include shipping name, identification number, quantity transported, and date of shipment.

The objective of this article is to better explain the terms used in the above regulation and inform persons involved in the transportation of hazardous materials their requirements to retain copies of shipping papers for hazardous materials under the regulations of the US DOT. The regulations of the US EPA for shipments of hazardous waste differ in some ways from those of the US DOT. These differences will be referenced below, but a more complete explanation of the record retention requirements of the US EPA will have to wait until a later article.

Lets take a look at some of the key terms used in the above paragraph to better understand the retention requirements for hazardous material shipping papers.

“Each person who provides…”

This limits the applicability of this regulation to just the Shipper of the hazardous material (aka: The Offeror, or the Person who Offers). The requirements of this regulation do not apply to the Carrier or to the Receiver of the hazardous material, both of whose regulatory responsibilities are explained later.

“…must retain a copy…”

This clearly establishes the requirement to retain a copy of the shipping paper.

“…required by §172.200(a)…”

§172.200(a) establishes the applicability for all of Subpart C – of which this paragraph is a part – to shipments of hazardous materials. Unless specifically exempted by regulation a shipping paper will be required for a shipment of a hazardous material. And, as indicated in §172.200(a) it is the responsibility of “each person who offers a hazardous material for transportation”, aka: The Shipper, to describe the hazardous material on the shipping paper.

“…or an electronic image thereof…”

An electronic image of the shipping paper is acceptable for retention provided the other requirements of this subpart are met. So, you may scan or copy your shipping papers and save them electronically on a computer or other hardware as long as the other requirements of this paragraph are met.

The US EPA regulations for the retention of a hazardous waste manifest at 40 CFR 262.40(a) do not specifically indicate an electronic image of a manifest as an acceptable copy for recordkeeping purposes. However, this US EPA document: Interpretation and Findings Regarding Safety-Kleen Corp.’s Automated Manifest Record Storage System does state that an electronic copy of a signed manifest, if it meets all other regulatory requirements, would be acceptable to the US EPA.

It is important to note that while electronic images of the shipping paper are accepted by US DOT for recordkeeping, they are not an acceptable replacement of the shipping paper while the hazardous material is in transportation (LOI 04-0207).

“…that is accessible at or through its principal place of business…”

The regulations provide some flexibility as to where, and thus how, the shipping papers are retained. The actual records (paper or electronic) might be at your principal place of business, or they might be stored elsewhere but available from your principal place of business. No matter where they are stored, don’t fail to comply with the next requirement.

“…and must make the shipping paper available, upon request…at reasonable times and locations…”

No matter where they are stored, or how (paper or electronic), you must provide HazMat shipping paper records when requested by authorized officials. What is a reasonable time and location? 4:45pm on a Friday? 7:30am on a Monday? I think it will depend on the authorized official. Even without this regulation I have found it best during any agency inspection to give them the documents they request as quickly as you can. It demonstrates cooperation and professionalism on your part and it gets them off your property faster.

“For hazardous waste…three years…accepted by the initial carrier…”

This is an instance where US DOT has revised its regulations for the transportation of a hazardous material to encompass the regulations of the US EPA for the transportation of a hazardous waste. Under US DOT regulations these regulations apply to a Shipper, similar US EPA regulations refer to the same person as a generator, the requirements are the same. US EPA requires persons handling a hazardous waste in transportation to retain a copy of the manifest as follows:

Generator: Three years from the date the hazardous waste is accepted by the initial transporter [40 CFR 262.40(a)]. This matches the US DOT requirement of a Shipper found in this paragraph.
Transporter: Three years from the date the hazardous waste is accepted by the initial transporter [40 CFR 263.22(a)]. This differs from the US DOT requirement of 1 year for a Carrier (see below).
Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility: Three years from the date of delivery of the hazardous waste [40 CFR 264.71(a)(2)(v)]. This differs greatly from the US DOT which has no record retention requirement for those who solely receive a hazardous material.

“For all other hazardous materials…retained for two years…”

If the shipment is not a hazardous waste, then only the regulations of the US DOT are applicable. In that case, a copy of the shipping paper must be retained for two years from the date the HazMat is accepted by the initial carrier. Remember that these regulations apply only to a shipper of a hazardous material. A carrier of a hazardous material is required to retain a copy of the shipping paper for one year after after the material is accepted by the carrier [49 CFR 177.817(f) and (LOI 09-0285)]. A person who receives a shipment of a hazardous material has no record retention requirement and indeed is not required to receive a copy of the shipping paper at all (unless it is a hazardous waste).

“Whatever happened to 375 days?” You may ask. Well, prior to enactment of the Hazardous Materials Safety and Security Reauthorization Act of 2005 (effective date of January 9, 2006) the mandatory retention period of a hazardous material shipping paper for both shippers and carriers was 375 days. However, after January 9, 2006 it became two years for a shipper and one year for a carrier (LOI 06-0025).

“…must include the date of acceptance…”

This makes sense since the mandated time period for shipping paper retention begins on the date of acceptance by the initial carrier.

“…except that, for rail, vessel, or air shipments…”

A slight exception for the date of acceptance is allowed for shipments by rail, vessel, or air.

“A motor carrier…using a shipping paper without change…”

Referred to as a “Permanent” Shipping Paper, this aspect of the regulation deserves its own article, and so I did: Using a “Permanent” Shipping Paper for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials.

That is a summary of the regulation, please contact me if you do not find the answers to your questions. I initially thought this would be an easy article to write, but it just kept getting more complicated as I dug into it (I find that happens often with the regulations). In later articles I will look more in-depth into the following:

Record retention requirements for Carriers of hazardous materials.
Signed by hand vs. manual signature on a shipping paper and a hazardous waste manifest.
Electronic transmission of the uniform hazardous waste manifest.
Record retention requirements for generators of hazardous waste.

The transportation of a hazardous waste is subject to the regulations of both the US EPA and the US DOT. That is why I include the training required by both agencies in one day of training either at Public Seminars or Onsite Training.

Please contact me for a free consultation of your training needs.

The Recordkeeping Requirements for RCRA Training for Hazardous Waste Personnel

In an earlier article I explained the requirements for training of Facility Personnel at a Large Quantity Generator (LQG) of hazardous waste. Just as important as providing the correct training is documenting its successful completion, that is the point of this article.

40 CFR 265.16 contains all of the regulations pertaining to the training of Facility Personnel at an LQG. Paragraph (d) of that section mandates what your recordkeeping must include:

The job title for each position at the facility related to hazardous waste management, and the name of the employee filling each job.
A written job description for each position listed above. Description may be consistent with your current job title descriptions (eg. Lead Maintenance, 2nd Shift Crew Chief, etc.), but it must include the requisite skill, education, or other qualifications, and duties of facility personnel assigned to each position.
A written description of the type and amount of training (initial and annual review) to be provided.
Record of training completion. If on the job experience is used in lieu of classroom training, then documentation of its completion.

Records of training must be maintained by the owner or operator at the facility. If a vendor or contractor provides this training for you, make certain you retain copies of the required records at your site. Training records must be maintained…

For current personnel until facility closure.
For former employees at least three years from the last day of employment.

And, an interesting aspect of the training records for Facility Personnel is that while they may be transferred within the same company, they may not be transferred if personnel begin employment with a new company. I find this interesting since the DOT’s training requirements for HazMat Employees does allow for the transfer of training records between companies. The EPA realizes that the management of hazardous waste is site specific and requires training that can focus on the safe handling of hazardous waste at that location.

If you wish to receive high-quality RCRA Training and DOT HazMat Employee Training for you and a few coworkers, I suggest you sign up for one of my public/open enrollment training events. If however, you require training for many employees and/or want site specific training, I suggest you contact me to arrange for on-site training. Either way, it is important that you comply with the requirement to annually train your Facility Personnel who may be exposed to hazardous waste.