CDL · Hazardous Materials · 6 min read
Responding to Hazardous Cargo Incidents
- Identify the immediate scene safety, communication, and evacuation steps a commercial driver must take during a hazardous materials emergency.
- Explain the proper safety protocols for handling fires, leaks, and class-specific cargo hazards without endangering yourself or the public.
- Recognize the mandatory criteria and timeframes for notifying the National Response Center and submitting written incident reports.
Immediate Actions and Scene Management
When an incident involving hazardous materials occurs, your first priority is life safety. Immediately following an incident, verify that your driving partner is safe. Once you know your partner's condition, focus on warning others of the danger at the incident scene. You must park the vehicle, secure the area, and stay on site. Bystanders must be kept far away and upwind from any hazardous materials spill to prevent toxic exposure or injury.
As the professional driver, you are the crucial link between the scene and arriving first responders. You must keep your shipping papers with you during an emergency. Arriving emergency response personnel will check shipping papers for the proper shipping name and hazardous materials identification number. You must communicate the hazards of the materials to emergency response personnel and provide them with the shipping papers and emergency response information so they can take proper protective actions.
At the scene, you must limit the spread of material only if it can be done safely. If you must send someone else to summon help, write down the emergency details for that person rather than relying on memory. Information sent with a messenger must include a clear emergency description, the exact location, and your travel direction. It must also list the driver's name, carrier's name, and terminal city or community, along with the proper shipping name, hazard class, and identification number if known.
Common mistakes
- Opening trailer doors that feel hot to the touch, which introduces fresh air and causes a smoldering fire to flare up.
- Driving a leaking vehicle to a nearby truck stop, rest area, or service facility instead of parking safely and securing the area.
- Sniffing or touching a leaking container to identify the substance, which risks death or severe injury from odorless toxic gases.
- Failing to notify the National Response Center when property damage exceeds $50,000 or when a public evacuation lasts more than one hour.
Key points
- Protect lives first by verifying your partner is safe, keeping bystanders upwind and away, securing the scene, and keeping shipping papers with you.
- If cargo is already on fire, do not fight the fire; feel trailer doors before opening them, and do not open them if they are hot.
- Do not touch, smell, or repack leaking cargo, and never drive a leaking truck to find a phone or repair shop.
- Before separating collided vehicles carrying explosives, remove all explosives and place them at least 200 feet from the vehicles and occupied buildings; check a vehicle involved in a Division 2.3 or 6.1 leak for stray poison before reuse.
- If a corrosive liquid spills or leaks, thoroughly wash exposed vehicle parts with water and wash out the interior after unloading, as soon as possible before reloading; if radioactive material spills or an internal container might be damaged, do not use the vehicle until it is cleaned and checked with a survey meter.
- You or your employer must phone the National Response Center when a listed notification condition occurs; these include public evacuations lasting more than one hour and closures of major transportation arteries or facilities lasting one hour or more. Carriers must make detailed written reports within 30 days of an incident.
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Sample lesson: Understanding Hazard Terms and Symbols25 practice questions on this exam
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