Has anyone had a Hazmat Violation ?

The transporting HM without an endorsement is on my drivers license. That does go on my personal driving record. It is a criminal offense. And it falls under the serious violation category. Which means if I get another serious violation within 3 years my CDL gets suspended for 60 days.
That in itself was enough to make me decide to get a lawyer. The fines I don't care, the shipper is more than willing to pay any and all costs. They have already giving me the money for the fine up front.

 

it is the shippers responsibility to properly label the haz-mat, and it must clearly marked on the bill of lading.

the shipper is on the hook for this. thats why they are so cooperative.

 

Yeah but with haz mat once the driver leaves the shipper the enforcement falls on him and his carrier. It cost my last employer $6K for the HM violation and then another $17K for the false logs & it cost me 97 weeks of unemployment....

 

false logs, EH

 

Was it fuel that was in this tank? If, so what kind? It sounds like this may have been used to fill construction/farm equipment(dyed fuel) and it may help your case in court, because if it was an offroad bulk refueler, typically no formal BOL's are used in the bulk offroad offload... At least they aren't in my neck of the woods. Also, there are a ton of exemptions for farm related stuff... worth a look.

Fuel tanks are almost Never washed out and cleaned and you would need the previous BOL for transport.

There is a separate HazMat book (as thick as the green book) with all the reg's about HazMat... In other words, it will not be in the Big Green book.

BTW: I'm a HazMat fuel hauler

 

Yes it was off road diesel. But there was no useable quantity in it. There was less than a pint of fluid in the very bottom. And refueling farm equipment is exactly what it was used for.
And Yes, I did pick up one of those HM Handbooks, so this kind of #### doesn't happen to me again.

 

Wisbang,
Did you have to go to court over that?

 

Bingo, you have yourself a case to to get this all dismissed... Get an attorney... tell him/her the whole situation. Actually the DOT messed up with this, as he should have know there ARE farm exemptions... and there would not have been a previous BOL... in the bulk portable tank, at least there isn't in Iowa and Minnesota when they transfer from a farm bulk to a portable offroad tank.

I think you have a real shot at this... keep us in the loop

 

No They presented the findings on the last day finding us to be Conditional, originally asked for more $$$ and had a few other items we were able to address in our proposed corrective action.

They will negotiate some & worked out a final amount with a payment schedule. If you fail to meet the schedule they revert back to the full fine amount.

They waited 4 months while I worked on the problem loggers and then dropped the hammer on me the day after I made my final college tuition payment for my youngest.

Since I needed the $$$$ i agreed to work for two more weeks w/ my replacement. I walked back to my desk and shortly later received a call from the DOT scheduling our re-audit...I laughed for about 5 min after that call!

 

Maybe I'm crazy...but isn't three years a little harsh?