Hazardous Materials Checklist

Pull the DQ file and confirm a current DOT medical certificate, MVR within the last 12 months, and an active Clearinghouse query result. A lapsed med card on a placarded load is an immediate OOS and an insurance disclaim risk.

Confirm the basic description in the order required by 49 CFR 172.202: UN ID number, proper shipping name, hazard class, packing group. The shipper certifies the description; the driver verifies it matches what was tendered before signing.

Per 49 CFR 172.602, every hazmat shipping paper must list a monitored 24/7 emergency response number — typically CHEMTREC (1-800-424-9300) or an equivalent service. Missing or unmonitored numbers are a roadside OOS and a state environmental violation.

Check the Table 1 / Table 2 thresholds in 49 CFR 172.504. Table 1 materials always require placards in any quantity; Table 2 materials require placards at 1,001 lb aggregate gross weight. Classification drives placarding, route planning, and emergency response staging.

The shipping paper must carry the shipper's signed certification per 49 CFR 172.204. Do not depart without it — the carrier inherits liability for an uncertified tender.

Per 49 CFR 172.516, placards go on front, rear, and both sides — readable from the direction they face, at least 3 inches from any other markings, and free of dirt and snow that obscures the symbol or class number.

Capture all four sides plus a close-up of any subsidiary placards. Photos defend against "placards fell off in transit" claims and give the safety director audit evidence the load departed in compliance.

For bulk packagings and certain non-bulk shipments under 49 CFR 172.301 and 172.331, the UN number must be displayed on orange panels or white-square-on-point placards on all four sides.

Refuse any drum, IBC, or cylinder showing leakage, deformation, or compromised closures. A leaking package on the dock is the shipper's problem; the same package on your trailer is the carrier's HM-126 violation.

Reference the segregation table — oxidizers away from flammables, acids away from bases, cyanides away from acids. Most segregation violations come from mixed LTL hazmat trailers where the loader didn't run the table.

Use straps, dunnage bags, load bars, and chocks to prevent shifting under 0.8g forward, 0.5g rearward, 0.5g lateral. Cylinders go upright with valve protection caps installed and secured against rolling.

Check 49 CFR 177.835 and the Special Permits in effect for the commodity. Forbidden, limited, and passenger-aircraft-only quantities are surprisingly easy to over-tender on consolidated LTL freight.

Several states and municipalities (NYC, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh tunnels) restrict placarded hazmat. Pull the FMCSA Hazardous Materials Route Registry and confirm the dispatched route is legal end to end before the driver leaves.

Glove-box envelope: shipping paper duplicate, ERG (current edition), CHEMTREC card, spill-kit inventory tag, accident packet with witness cards and disposable camera, dispatcher and safety-director after-hours numbers.

49 CFR 393.95 requires a 10 B:C minimum (5 B:C for certain non-placarded), tagged within the last 12 months, mounted accessibly. A discharged or untagged extinguisher on a placarded load is OOS at roadside.

Per 49 CFR 177.817, the shipping paper must be on the driver's seat, in a door pouch, or in a holder mounted to the door — not in the sleeper, glove box, or trip envelope. First responders look there first if the driver is incapacitated.

Spill, release, leak, accident, fire, or any unintended exposure — capture it here. This drives the conditional incident-report path. "No incident" closes out to the delivery section.

Driver reads the UN number and proper shipping name from the paper; CHEMTREC routes the response. Safety director confirms scene preservation, photographs, and witness contact before any cleanup contractor disturbs the area.

Form DOT F 5800.1 must be filed within 30 days of discovery per 49 CFR 171.16. Telephonic notice to the National Response Center (1-800-424-8802) is required within 12 hours for the categories listed in 171.15 (death, hospitalization, $50K+ damage, evacuation, marine pollutant in water, etc.).

Capture POD with the consignee's printed name, signature, date, and time. For RCRA hazardous waste, the manifest copy distribution is mandatory and audited — do not leave the receiver without the carrier copy in hand.

49 CFR 173.29 — residue still requires placards unless the packaging is purged of vapor and hazard. Removing placards on a trailer with hazmat residue is a common roadside violation on the deadhead leg.

Carriers must retain hazmat shipping papers for 1 year (3 years for hazardous waste manifests) per 49 CFR 177.817(f). Tag and index by date, UN number, and consignee so an FMCSA hazmat audit pull is a 5-minute query, not a 5-hour scramble.