Hazmat Endorsement Without Studying
Topic 4238 | Page 1
The Hazardous Materials Section of our High Road Training Program is only about 17 pages long. I think it's definitely worth going through it. There are a lot of little technical details to know about Hazmat and it's one of those area of trucking you really can't afford to learn the hard way. One mistake - you have a missing placard, the bills aren't located in the right location, parking or running in a Hazmat restricted area - those kind of mistakes can lead to fines in the thousands of dollars. You really want to know who is responsible for what, how to be prepared properly to haul a Hazmat load, and who to contact if things go wrong. So yes, I would definitely work through the Hazmat Section.
While we're on the subject, a lot of people go through only the sections of our High Road program that apply to the CDL permit and they skip either the endorsement sections, the Logbook Rules and Truck Weight & Balance sections. You really want to work your way through our entire program if at all possible. I mean, if you're going to stock cans of beans at a grocery store you might get away with skimping on your training a little bit. After all, rarely does anyone die because a can of beans was on the wrong shelf. But we're talking about driving an 80,000 pound building on wheels surrounded by minivans full of children. There isn't very much in the way of "unimportant information" under those circumstances. You pretty much want to know all you can!
Just so everyone knows, here's how our High Road Training Program breaks down:
To Get Your CDL Permit:
- Rules & Regulations
- Driving Safely
- Transporting Cargo Safely
- Air Brakes
- Combination Vehicles
- Pre-Trip Inspection
- Driving Exam
To get your CDL endorsements which are optional but we highly recommend you get:
- Transporting Passengers
- Doubles And Triples
- Tankers
- Hazardous Materials
And two sections we've built ourselves with info you'll need for everyday life on the road but the manual doesn't really cover it:
- Logbook
- Weight & Balance
Pre-trip Inspection:
A pre-trip inspection is a thorough inspection of the truck completed before driving for the first time each day.
Federal and state laws require that drivers inspect their vehicles. Federal and state inspectors also may inspect your vehicles. If they judge a vehicle to be unsafe, they will put it “out of service” until it is repaired.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Logbook:
A written or electronic record of a driver's duty status which must be maintained at all times. The driver records the amount of time spent driving, on-duty not driving, in the sleeper berth, or off duty. The enforcement of the Hours Of Service Rules (HOS) are based upon the entries put in a driver's logbook.
HAZMAT:
Hazardous Materials
Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations
Combination Vehicle:
A vehicle with two separate parts - the power unit (tractor) and the trailer. Tractor-trailers are considered combination vehicles.
Doubles:
Refers to pulling two trailers at the same time, otherwise known as "pups" or "pup trailers" because they're only about 28 feet long. However there are some states that allow doubles that are each 48 feet in length.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
FMCSA has an online guide. Appendix C gives you the source to order a printed copy.
CSA:
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle
FMCSA:
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
The FMCSA was established within the Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000. Their primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries.
What Does The FMCSA Do?
- Commercial Drivers' Licenses
- Data and Analysis
- Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement
- Research and Technology
- Safety Assistance
- Support and Information Sharing
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.New Reply:
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So I passed my HazMat test without actually studying for it, and it's something that I've had on my mind, as to whether if that's something I should be worried about. I know a lot of it is common sense, but should I leave the rest of it to when I do my over the road training?
The company that I'll be working for doesn't carry any explosive or radioactive HazMat, just stuff that you'll find at Menards, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. such as batteries and other low risk Hazmat. I'm not saying I'm a know-nothing imbecile, but I also don't want to be ill prepared when it comes to taking my Hazmat loads.
HAZMAT:
Hazardous Materials
Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations
Over The Road:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.