Placarding your Hazmat load wrong

I know you need to have your trailor placarded if your carrying more then 1001 lbs of any Hazmat. So if you had more then 29 total of 35 lbs cylinders you would have to flag as Hazmat since the gross is more then the 1001 lbs limit. But's the total gross weight that is the number.

So if you see Qty 29 of Class 2.2 Non-Flammable Gas, 35 lbs, material gross weight of 1015 lbs then you would need to flag as the hazmat requires. BTW the best answer is to call your carrier hazmat division and verify before removing the hazmat placards or risk a MAJOR fine if your not placarded right.

 

Yeah if you carrying less then 1000 lbs then your fine. I'd still run the route as a hazmat unit, but not placarded, even though I am not required to and when I park the unit treat is as a Hazmat unit, esp with cylinders of gases.

 

I would say you was wrong.With questionable loads you are suppose to call your company not take matters into your own hands.

 

driver , you did the correct thing. it sounds as if you had on a air conditioning unit. it wouldn't be considered a hazmat load, although it would still be noted on the bill of lading. quite often large a/c units will have the Freon listed like that or perhaps carbon dioxide will be.


you should have called your company so they could prevent this in the future.

and when relaying a load, you should check everything out before you move one inch, especially with a haz-mat load, that was your biggest mistake , and frankly a huge mistake. and if the scale had checked, you could have been raked over the coals .

 

Surely you are hauling more than 35 lbs. What else are you hauling?

Yes you should contact dispatch or safety and discuss it before making hazmat decisions. Especially being new. You can have something you are not familiar with that is immersed in a solvent. Like floor adhesive. Doesn't look like a flammable liquid. But what it's mixed with it is a flammable solvent like acetone to keep the glue in a paste form... then you have hazmat if it's a RQ.

Look good at the items on your trailer and look for warning stickers or UN numbers. Any questions at all talk with the shipper or dispatch. Don't be asking a forum. Hazmat is serious stuff and carries stiff penalties for messing up.

You should always review your bills before leaving so you know what and how much. What if the driver gave you the wrong bills from his trip before? That mistake would look kind of stupid 100 miles down the road.

 

You should have called. You change and you're wrong guess who's going to hang if something goes wrong?

 

I would think that before accepting the load it is your job to read through the paper work, ensure that everything is in order and if it is not, inspect the load, call the company to tell them you are refusing the load until it is all fixed. This is done before pretrip or anything else.

I wonder did you actually open the doors, looked at the load and see what it is?

Don't you have an ERG and a hazmat materials book with you?

If you do, always check the paperwork against those manuals, if not get them.

 

I don't understand why other "experienced" drivers are calling this a questionable load.
The manifest should be properly descriptive enough for the driver to tell what the hazard class is, the packaging amount, and the total weight of that particular hazmat material.

The driver is responsible for having the proper knowledge to read and understand hazard classes AND how to read a manifest.
If you think your manifest understanding is lacking, then you need to get it up to par.
Call your dispatch with any questionable hazmat load, but not every time it's something you should know.

BTW, many times I've had loads with a single Class 2.2 35lb cylinder, but I've also had loads of over 50 of them. Know the difference in regards to reading the manifest, because it matters... greatly.