More
Following the attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began running security checks of hazardous material (or "hazmat") shipments and random stops of carriers. Railroads, another major carrier of hazmat, created an "Information Sharing and Analysis Center" through the Association of American Railroads. The AAR even hired its own team of terrorism experts.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta publicly asked companies to be more cautious and characterized transportation facilities as "soft targets" for terrorists. "In the wrong hands, hazardous materials pose a threat to security," Mineta says.
Mineta sent Congress a legislative proposal in October which he said would address the problem of undeclared or hidden hazmat shipments. The legislation would boost the Department of Transportation's inspection authority, increase the maximum civil penalty from $27,500 to $100,000, expand training requirements and work with other state and federal agencies to coordinate regulations.
So just how dangerous is it out there? Alan Roberts, a former associate administrator for hazardous materials at the DOT Research and Special Programs Administration, said infrastructure is a potential terrorist target, but hazmat shipments aren't inherently more vulnerable than any other aspect of the nation's transportation system. He is president of the Hazards Materials Advisory Council, a Washington, D.C., non-profit educational group that provides hazardous materials training.
"The safety system we have today is a good one," Roberts says. "It's not perfect, but it's one of the best there is. But the system was never designed to preclude events caused by people with evil intentions. My view is that there is more hazmat compliance today than there was 20 years ago."
International hazmat shipments entering the U.S. must adhere to United Nations regulatory guidelines for transport. The DOT pegs the value of international shipments entering the U.S. at $71 billion annually.
Domestically, about one million hazmat shipments move within the U.S. each day. That amounts to three billion tons of hazmat cargo annually. Trucks are the workhorse of hazmat shipments, with that mode accounting for 43 percent of total hazmat tonnage, but 94 percent of the total number of shipments.
Airlines have more restrictions on hazmat than ground carriers. Air transport accounts for less than one percent of the total hazmat tonnage but five percent of the shipments. The remainder of the tonnage is carried via water, rail or pipeline but in larger shipment quantities. These three modes account for less than one percent of total shipments.
The enormous number of hazmat shipments in transit hasn't translated into correspondingly high accidents. In fact, the number of serious incidents is relatively low. The DOT reports that, from 1992 to 1999, there were a total of 3,246 serious incidents in the air, highway, rail and water modes.
These statistics are a reflection of industry practices rather than regulatory mandates. There is no federal licensing program for hazmat transportation. Instead, companies receive a federal endorsement to carry hazmat. This endorsement doesn't specify any required courses.
Companies handling hazmat are required to provide training for employees on an ongoing basis in the areas of awareness, personal safety and function-specific responsibilities, but the substance of this training is left to the employer's discretion.
"The good news is that we leave it up to the employers to do the type of training appropriate for their operations," says Jim Powell, president of LogisticsTraining.com, a hazmat consulting and training firm based in Los Angeles. "The bad news is that it assumes the employer knows what's appropriate. How do they know what they don't know? That's one of the biggest problems because there are so many chemicals out there now. A can of whipped cream can be considered a hazmat because it's an aerosol."
Carriers are responsible for handling hazmat once it gets into the transportation loop, but shippers are responsible for the packing and labeling. Safe handling starts with them. For both parties, it's the obscure details that can trip them up.
Close observation sprinkled with a dash of suspicion is the best protection for warding off trouble. "Watch for discrepancies in weights-if a package that's shipped out every day normally weighs five pounds and suddenly it weighs 20 pounds, why is that? If that package of 'printed matter' is leaking, you better check it out."
Acts of sabotage aside, it's the "accidental shipper" who often gets the company into hot water with the Feds. These people don't normally consider themselves to be in the business of transporting hazmat. For example, traveling salespeople who routinely ship displays worldwide to trade show destinations may fall under DOT regulations and qualify for training.
Another problem for shippers is product returns. Under current DOT rules hazmat training requirements apply to those companies that ship hazmat, but not to those that only receive it. DOT oversight stops when the package arrives at the destination. From there on, it's in OSHA's jurisdiction.
An example is printing ink. It is classified as a hazmat for air transit. If the consignees rejects the product and returns it, he thereby becomes a hazmat shipper and subject to DOT rules.
Among carriers, compliance is usually the weakest among operators few resources to develop detailed quality assurance programs, says Thomas Finkbiner, CEO of Quality Distribution, Inc., in Tampa, Fla., one of North America's largest liquid bulk motor carriers.
"If you're a large carrier and already have a good investment in safety and security, you will do just fine," Finkbiner says. "Where it's going to have a significant impact is on the smaller and mid-sized carriers who didn't have the discipline to begin with."
Enforcing current laws rather than adding a flurry of new ones is the more appropriate step, Finkbiner says: "There are things that can be done now that are common sense and will have a high impact but are not terribly expensive, like better background checks on potential drivers, or having the FBI share questionable security risks with us."
Instead, policymakers are turning their attention-and largesse-toward another segment of the hazmat protection system: emergency response personnel. Known as "first responders" these are the firefighters, police and medical teams who are often the first to arrive on the scene.
For these workers, Sept. 11 galvanized Federal policymakers to come through with funding and potential new rules, according to Dan Collins, president of the Operation Respond Institute in Washington, D.C.
Operation Respond works with local communities to ensure safe handling of hazardous materials in transit and cleanup of accidental spills. The non-profit developed a software that is used by emergency personnel throughout North America and overseas.
Operation Respond works closely with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the organization spearheading the Congressional response to equip firefighters with better tools to handle incidents.
"Where Congress is taking the program is toward the ports," Collins says. A Federal study released last year concluded that ports are at low risk for terrorist acts, but that such an event would be devastating to the port if it did happen.
More than 90 percent of U.S. international trade arrives in an ocean containers. Security for these containers is much harder to ensure than other modes because of the more numerous points of origin and container transfer points along the journey.
"We have to deal with the container issue," Collins said. "What is inside these containers that are coming in from all over the world? I think the whole thrust will be intermodal. It will be about how we interface with trucks and the ports so that those who are responding know what to do."
Sidebar: The Shipper's Hazardous Materials Checklist
1. Use an official International Air Transport Association (IATA) checklist for all air shipments. Don't rely solely on those provided by forwarders or carriers, as they are often modified.2. Develop a checklist for other modes of transport.
3. Identify and train all employees who handle hazardous materials. Don't rely on just one person. Train one person in your organization once a year, regardless of whether he or she is due for the two or three-year recurrent certification. Regulations change yearly. At least one person should be up-to-date on all new developments.
4. Audit your hazardous materials shipping operations yourself or have an outside auditor do it. Challenge your own system before the authorities do it for you.
5. Write it down. Don't rely on verbal instructions to employees. Have them sign and acknowledge the procedures.
6. If you can, identify hazardous materials items in your inventory and order entry system. Establish a procedure to evaluate every new product to determine whether it meets the definition of a hazardous material by ANY mode of transport. If needed, hire an outside specialist to do this for you.
7. Don't rely solely on suppliers' Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for transport information. They are frequently wrong, but you're the one who'll be cited for a violation. MSDS documents may not address modal differences. Hazard information is listed as it relates to the Department of Labor's OSHA regulations, and not necessarily to the DOT's transport regulations.
With access to over one million professionals and more than 60 industry-specific publications,
