Hazmat · Loading, Unloading, and Bulk Packaging
Before any hazardous material is loaded onto or unloaded from your vehicle, what does federal regulation require of the vehicle itself?
Explanation
No hazardous material may be loaded into or onto, or unloaded from, a motor vehicle unless the handbrake is securely set and all other reasonable precautions have been taken to prevent the vehicle from moving during the process. The rule is written as a precondition rather than a recommendation, and the handbrake is the named minimum rather than the whole duty: the catch-all for other reasonable precautions reaches whatever else that particular vehicle, grade and dock needs. It is also not delegated to anyone, so a driver cannot treat vehicle movement as the shipper's or the facility's problem. The wrong options each substitute something the rule does not say, a blanket engine-off requirement that belongs to specific classes elsewhere in the part, chocks offered as a replacement for the handbrake rather than an addition to it, or a handoff of the duty to the facility.
Source: 49 CFR 177.834(e)
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