Prime Hazmat

I agree with ironpony, any company you work for that hauls hazmat, even if it's rare, makes you more valuable as an employee if you're endorsed for it.

 

Wait till you have a spill or some kinda problem.. You'll see how easy it is.

It's irresponsible to say that to newbees . Kinda like saying leaseing is easy........

 

We don't pull anything especially hazardous, and its quite tightly controlled through dispatch especially with the newer folks. They really work at mitigating risk on hazardous loads.

As far as leasing is concerned, if you've ever read anything I've posted on the subject then you'd know my view is that it's not easy and the deck is stacked against one- especially newer drivers.

 

I know that you are more than truthful about how hard leasing is .....that same advice should be given about haz-mat ...

but what do I know........

 

I don't even consider pulling hazmat... the stuff we do to be "difficult." The last one I had included a pallet of BIC lighters... placarded class 2, flammable. BFD. Creamora... the stuff you put in your coffee is hazmat, so are palletized liquid totes of phosphoric acid... an ingredient in the soda you're about to chug. One of the more frequent runs we get is coolant so your local mechanic can service the a/c in your wife's car. None of this stuff is particularly dangerous, and most of the deal is procedural.

They do a reasonably good job in mitigating the risk, and sales doesn't just grab every hazardous load they can find. I've never had a problem with a poorly packaged load, leaking product, mismarked containers, and have only questioned the shipping documents a couple of times. DOT mostly wants to know that the stuff is properly braced in the trailer... that's one of the boxes that gets checked prior to departure. Routes are tightly controlled, load content vs placard status is double checked. On top of that, the brand new ones are kept on a pretty tight leash for awhile. Even with the endorsement I don't think they're going to turn a brand new guy loose on one of these loads. I certainly haven't seen any of our low-time types turn up looking for one of these deals.

 

When I was in training, we had to take over a hazmat load of a portion of its trip. I didn't have my endorsement and was hanging out for those two days. We turned it over to a guy that had upgraded less than 2 months before.

 

That's unusual... I really haven't seen that.

 

I never knew Creamora was hazardous. Learn something new everyday.

Google'd creamora, first that comes up on my auto suggest? How to make a creamora fireball and pyrotechnic display.

 

It was an unusual load altogether. One driver originated the load and said he would take it no further than Amarillo. We picked it up in Amarillo and carried it to its next two stops. I was pulled out of the QC and became a rider for those two days since I was not eligible to haul hazmat. Then we handed it off to the next guy in Phoenix to finish it up in Oregon. I imagine he got that load simply due to lack of options for folks to haul it.