Incidents
Carriers of hazardous materials are required to report certain
unintentional releases that occurred during transportation of
hazardous materials. This major sub-system contains data from the two types of
incident reports required by the regulations: immediate telephonic
notifications made since 1982 and written incident reports made
since 1971. The requirements are published in Title 49 of the
Code of Federal Regulations (49 CFR), Part 171, Sections 171.15 and 171.16.
There are also requirements in the modal parts of Title 49 (Parts 174 - 177) that require reporting of hazardous materials incidents.
(See 49 CFR Sections 174.45 (rail), 175.45 (air), 176.48 (vessel), and 177.807 (highway).)
Hazardous Materials Telephonic Notices
Immediate telephonic notices are required whenever there is a
significant hazardous materials incident during transportation,
or storage related to transportation, including those involving
a death, an injury requiring hospitalization, property damage
in excess of $50,000, an evacuation, the closure of a major transportation
artery or facility, the alteration of the operational flight pattern
or routine of an aircraft, the release of a radioactive material
or etiologic agent, or a situation which is judged by the carrier
to merit notification even though it does not meet the specified
criteria. This requirement also applies to hazardous wastes and
to reportable quantities of hazardous substances discharged during
transportation. The telephonic notifications are received by
the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center (NRC), which is
staffed around the clock. Telephonic notifications are received
by the NRC on (800) 424-8802. The Coast Guard Duty Officer notifies
concerned organizations including, when appropriate, PHMSA, the
modal administrations, CHEMTREC, and the NTSB, to effect prompt
resolution of serious incidents. The telephonic notices received
by the NRC are accumulated and transmitted daily to the HMIS host
computer, which is maintained at the Volpe National Transportation
System Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the Volpe Center, the
information is reviewed and edited to ensure data quality and
is made available that day in the telephonics data base.
Hazardous Materials Incidents Reports
A written report of any hazardous materials incident requiring
a telephonic report, or involving the unintentional release of
a hazardous material during transportation, must be filed by the
carrier within 30 days of occurrence. The report identifies the
mode of transportation involved, name of reporting carrier, shipment
information, results of the incident, hazardous materials involved,
nature of packaging, cause of failure, and narrative description
of the incident. This information is available in the incident
database approximately three months after the receipt of the
report by PHMSA. The following data contains tabular summaries of hazardous
materials incidents by mode, year, state, hazard class, etc.
|
