The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration released a memorandum outlining a new data-driven framework on outreach, inspection, and enforcement practices within its Office of Hazardous Materials Safety.
“Safety drives everything we do. That’s why, for the first time ever, PHMSA is publicly highlighting key focus areas for our inspection and enforcement teams to drive meaningful improvements in the movement of hazardous materials,” said Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrator Paul Roberti. “We aim to build safer communities across America through stronger compliance, enhanced partnerships, and higher safety standards for our industry.”
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The memo directs PHMSA hazmat inspectors and investigators to focus on areas with the greatest potential impact on hazardous materials safety and to base their decisions on data-driven analyses. In addition to inspection and enforcement, the memo outlines priorities for outreach to regulated entities to help prevent safety violations and accidents before they occur.
The OHMS inspection and enforcement priorities memo is available on PHMSA’s website here. This memo follows a similar effort already undertaken by PHMSA’s Office of Pipeline Safety, which can be found here.
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Here is a look at the priorities in the memo.
Outreach Priorities
- Increasing communication and engagement with hazardous materials shippers
- Supporting shipper understanding and compliance with hazardous materials package selection requirements
- Promoting proper classification of materials prior to shipment
Inspection Priorities
- General hazardous materials shippers
- Cylinder requalification facilities
- Domestic and foreign cylinder manufacturing facilities
- Drum manufacturing operations
- Drum recertification entities
- Companies with past major safety violations
- Lithium battery shippers
- Undeclared hazardous materials shippers operating via e-commerce platforms
Enforcement Priorities
- Ensure timely and accurate case processing
- Focus on risk-based enforcement
- Promote national consistency and accountability
- Leverage data to drive strategic improvements
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